Vanilla Balance Mod v4 for Rome: Total War and BI

Presenting...

Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0

I am proud to present Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0, the final, complete release of my limited mini-mod for vanilla RTW v1.5 that seeks to enhance the balance and replay value of the campaign. Yes, I know I said that v3.0 was "final and complete", but hey.

VBM reduces the effect where the same factions (Britons, Egypt) storm over the map predictably in almost every game while others (Seleucids, Carthage, Gaul, Germany) are wiped out very early before getting a chance to deploy their best units. This is achieved by fine-tuning faction starting positions, starting denarii and unit rosters.

Please see the Readme document below for full details of the changes made.

Some examples of VBM campaign development around the year 200 BC:

https://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6513/224bcyi7.jpg https://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8456/186bcgo7.jpg https://img214.imageshack.us/img214/6223/232bcyw3.jpg



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=======VANILLA BALANCE MOD V4.0=======
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README CONTENTS
===============
1. Introduction
2. Requirements/Compatibility
3. Principal changes From v1
4. List of Changes to Vanilla Game
5. Installation Instructions
6. Uninstallation Instructions
7. Credits


1. INTRODUCTION
================================================
Vanilla Balance Mod v4 ("VBM") is a mini-mod for Rome Total War, the aim of which is to remove some of the inherent biases in the Imperial Campaign which cause the same factions to quickly become superpowers in every game, while others are eliminated before they get close to deploying their most advanced and characterful troops.

With VBM, the Imperial Campaign is less predictable in its results - the Gauls may rampage through Northern Italy, Carthage may conquer all Sicily and rule the Western Mediterranean, while war in the east could see the Seleucids, Egypt, Armenia or Pontus emerge as a superpower. Naturally the nations which habitually did well in pure vanilla can still end up winning through in VBM, but there is a good deal more variety and it usually takes longer for eventual victors to emerge.

VBM is not a panacea. Many of the factors which cause predictability and repeating history are inherent in RTW and are beyond the scope of my abilities as a modder to rectify. In particular, the Steamroller Effect whereby the "flow" of a war does not tend to change once an early tipping point has been reached, is difficult to remedy. Nevertheless, with Vanilla Balance Mod it is far less predictable which nation will be the beneficiary of the effect, and those that lose out now tend to last a little longer in most cases. A VBM campaign map at 200BC will normally be far more diverse than that of vanilla Rome.

The changes which have been made are minimal in scope and in particular effort has been made to ensure that no faction is either unviable or unduly easy when played by a human player. Inevitably, due to the various boosts and penalties which have been given to various factions, the original campaign difficulties have shifted somewhat - playing as the Gauls, Carthage or the Seleucids is somewhat easier under VBM than pure vanilla, while the British, Scipii, Spanish, Egyptian and Numidian campaigns are harder. However none of the campaigns played with VBM are harder than the hardest campaign under pure vanilla, or easier than the easiest.

With regard to history, VBM is not a historical or realism mod, but every change to faction starting positions and unit rosters has a historical basis. Overall VBM is certainly no less accurate than vanilla 1.5.



2. REQUIREMENTS/COMPATIBILITY
================================================

VBM v4.0 is a mini-mod for vanilla Rome v1.5. Installation over eariler versions of RTW is not supported.

By kind permission of player1, VBM v4.0 includes material from BugFixer, the popular unofficial patch for Rome: Total War that fixes many glaring and underlying bugs with the campaign. This means that you can install VBM straight over BugFixed RTW 1.5, without losing any of the fixes implemented by BugFixer. BugFixer is highly recommended for the best experience from VBM, see https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=55464 for details and download. It is not a prerequisite however, as VBM will install fine over pure vanilla.
If using BugFixer, Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0 is tested with BugFixer v3.36. It has not been tested with other versions, but no problems are anticipated if used with an earlier version.

Q: Is Vanilla Balance Mod compatible with Mod X?
A: Vanilla Balance Mod is, obviously, a mini-mod for vanilla and is therefore totally incompatible with "coversion" mods which change RTW into a different game, for example Europa Barbarorum or Rome: Total Realism. Other mini-mods which affect unit skins/attributes are not generally compatible with VBM as installation of VBM would overwrite the files that describe unit behaviour and attributes. Other mods that do not have this effect, such as those that change faction symbols or AI formations, should be compatible. However, no guarantee is given on the subject - or any other for that matter ;-)


3. PRINCIPAL CHANGES FROM v3
================================================

See "full list of changes" for a full description of each of these changes.

* Added changes to Roman recruitment, restricting availability of Praetorian and Urban cohorts to Italy, but adding the ability to train First Cohorts in each Roman faction's starting headquarters.
* Added changes to Nubian Spearmen, preventing them from forming phalanx but increasing their unit size.
https://img46.imageshack.us/img46/11...iansee1.th.jpg
Nubians
* Added new Carthaginian units of Libyan Archers and Poeni Archers, complete with unit cards and sprites. (Their models were already in the game but had not been "activated" as units.
https://img212.imageshack.us/img212/...yansyr4.th.jpghttps://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1743/poenibl1.th.jpg
Libyan archers...Poeni archers
* Added enhancement to range of women's names for some factions that were particularly short of them, leading to repetitive family trees
* Added extension to area of recruitment for Spartan Hoplites throughout southern Greece
* Added trait reform for less corruption and better education
* Added Medea province name correct spelling
* Modified v3's changes to extermination - new, more appropriate sound with the popup, and renamed "suppression".
* Restored "council table" graphic to faction info scrolls, replacing the poor-quality faction victory condition maps


4. LIST OF CHANGES TO VANILLA GAME
================================================

FACTION CAMPAIGNS
* All factions are now playable except for the Senate and the Rebels
* The game no longer revolves entirely around Rome, so factions' victory goals are individually tailored to their likely real-life ambitions. Whilst every faction must still conquer 50 provinces, the specific territories that must be included in those 50 now vary from faction to faction. For example the Spanish must conquer 50 provinces while ensuring that their empire includes Baetica, Taranonenis, Hispania and Celtiberia. Victory goals for the Roman families, the Gauls, the Germans and Carthage still include conquering Rome. The Successor kingdoms represented in the game - Macedonia, the Seleucid Empire and Egypt - share the goal of reuniting Alexander's empire by taking Thessalonica, Antioch, Seleucia and Alexandria.
* Leader portraits, selection screen maps and campaign descriptions for all factions that lacked them
https://img265.imageshack.us/img265/...reenlv0.th.jpg
* Revised faction selection maps for factions whose starting positions have changed
* Completed text for victory and defeat screens for every faction. No more lame generic "You have won, all your people celebrate" text when playing as Numidia, Dacia etc., the victory text for these is now just as specific and stirring as for the main factions!
* For reasons of personal taste, some province names slightly altered where the original name was the same as that of a faction - e.g. the province of Armenia being part of the Kingdom of Armenia. These provinces now have the suffix "proper", e.g. Armenia Proper, Numidia Proper.
* Spelling of the province of Medea corrected from Media.
* There is a bonus cheat/feature, enabling the "perfect spy". This allows the player to see details of army composition and city details as if you had a spy right next to them, no matter how far away they are. To activate, press F1 while on the campaign map to bring up the keyboard shortcuts scroll. Click on the question mark and when the advisor appears, click the "show me how" button to activate the script. You can deactivate it at any time by repeating this process. For best results, use with the fog of war off.
* The range of names for women in the Pontic, Armenian and Thracian factions has been increased to reduce the problem of repetitive family names. In pure vanilla it has been known for a general from one of these cultures to have a wife and three daughters all with the same name! Thrace and Pontus have gained some carefully-selected and appropriate names from the Macedonian list, while Armenia has received a small number of names from the Parthian list. These are culturally appropriate and historically justifiable (at least no less historic than pure Vanilla).

TRAITS
Under pure Vanilla, it was very easy for characters to pick up bad traits (especially corruption, expensive living and drinking-related traits) purely from living in a highly developed city or an economically powerful faction. This effectively meant that the player was being punished for success. The trait system has been very slightly tinkered with to moderate this, without in any way detracting from the characterfulness of the game (we still want to get hilariously debauched characters every now and then!)
* Treasury thresholds for corruption traits substantially increased
* Probability of picking up expensive living and drink traits slightly reduced
* Added possibility of picking up "Good Administrator" trait from Academy line of buildings
* Increased chance of getting positive skill traits from Academy line of buildings.

NON-ROMAN GENERALS
* All non-Roman factions use the upgraded version of their generals' bodyguards from the beginning of the game. This does not affect the Britons. This compensates for the unfairness of the general upgrade function being dependent on the Marius reforms for all cultures, rather than just the Romans.

FACTION REBALANCING
* Summary: Various factions have been strengthened and weakened by having their starting denarii, starting provinces, armies, and sometimes units tweaked. This has been pretty successful in generating a balanced campaign. Carthage, the Gauls, the Germans and the Seleucids - the four big losers under pure vanilla - now usually survive to 200BC at least, and will expand to powerful empires in 30-50% of campaigns.

Britons
* The Britons have been banished from the mainland and had their navy disbanded. They no longer rampage across the continent immediately. Typically an AI-controlled British faction will cross the channel in approximately 200BC. This leads to longer Gaulish and German survival.
* Morale of British Chariots has been reduced as they were over-valued in auto-calc.

Gauls
* Samarobriva gained from Britons, modest garrison installed

Germans
* German Spear Warband is no longer phalanx-capable. Has same stats, abilities and costs as the regular warbands of other barbarian factions, including warcry ability
https://img90.imageshack.us/img90/69...earscs7.th.jpg
German spear warband

Spain
* Carthago Nova lost to Carthage
* Morale and formation settings for Iberian Infantry and Scutarii swapped, since from their descriptions and the levels of barracks buildings required to train them, it seemed inappropriate that Iberians should be more disciplined than Scutarii
* Iberian Infantry defence skill slightly increased

Carthage
* Carthaginian empire now larger at game start, with Carthago Nova gained from Spain and two totally new provinces: Corsica (capital: Alalia) and Numidia Punica (capital: Hippo Regius)
https://img90.imageshack.us/img90/24...hagece9.th.jpg https://img155.imageshack.us/img155/...sicavf9.th.jpg
Numidia Punica.........Corsica
* Starting denarii increased
* Forces on Sicily slightly rebalanced
* Carthage can now recruit Scutarii at a City Barracks. Compete with unit cards and sprites (thanks to professorspatula for unit cards and implementation help)
https://img92.imageshack.us/img92/98...ariivs5.th.jpg
Carthaginian Scutarii
* Carthage can now recruit two new archer troop types - moderate-quality Libyan Archers from a Level 2 missile building, and high-quality Poeni Archers from a Level 3 missile building. Complete with unit cards, descriptions and sprites (unit cards created by Storm_Of_Horus and originally appearing in the "Carthaginian Archers Reloaded" mod at TWCenter).
* Changes to Scutarii and Iberian Infantry noted under Spain apply to Carthage too.

Roman Families
* Amulius Brutus loses Natural Military Skill trait
* Praetorian Guard and Urban Cohorts can now be recruited only in Italy (including Segesta, Mediolanum, Patavium and all Sicilian cities), reducing the unrealistic Praetorian-dominated armies often seen in late game.
* First Cohorts can now be recruited in each Roman family's starting capital, as well as Rome. Early Legionary Fist Cohorts can be trained at an Army Barracks and Legionary First Cohorts at an Urban Barracks in Arretium, Capua, Rome and Tarentum. However, they now take longer to build and are more expensive than in vanilla.

Greek Cities
* Diplomat moved from Sicily to Aetolia
* Spartan Hoplites now have a standard bearer
* Spartan Hoplites can now be recruited in Corinth, Athens and Thermon as well as their original recruitment centres at Sparta and Syracuse.

Pontus
* Chariot morale reduced
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1. Chariot archers are recruitable only with a level 3 smith.
* Trader removed from Mazaka

Seleucid Empire
* Starting denarii slightly increased
* Completely new province of Lycaonia (capital: Iconium) in Asia Minor bridges gap between Sardis and Tarsus, improving empire's cohesion and survivability
https://img137.imageshack.us/img137/...oniaww5.th.jpg
....Lycaonia
* Sidon gained from Egypt with modest garrison
* Some other starting garrisons increased, with a unit of cataphracts in Hatra (most nations get a "bonus late military unit" which they can't recuit, the Seleucids originally didn't).
* Better walls around Antioch and Hatra
* Chariot morale reduced
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1
* In one of the most successful bits of modding, removed the river crossing from the river between Armenia and Assyria, ending the Armenians' manic obsession with Hatra and greatly improving the chances of the Seleucids surviving the first 50 years.

Egypt
* Shrines removed from all cities to make presence of garrison more necessary at start of game
* Sidon lost to Seleucid Empire
* The province of Judaea now has an Eastern culture, creating a cultural penalty for Egyptian control there which reflects the independence wishes of the Jewish population.
* Numerous adjustments to cost of recruiting and maintaining units, to bring them into line with similar sized units with similar stats from other factions.
* Bonuses and immunities of Egyptian troops when fighting in hot conditions removed. Although characterful, this created an unfair advantage over Egypt's enemies, since the faction almost invariably fights in hot conditions. They now suffer the same heat penalties as equivalent units from the Greek and Carthaginian cultures.
* Nubian Spearmen can no longer form a phalanx, but to compensate they now come in a larger 60-man unit. They have identical stats to Eastern Infantry, including cost.
* Chariot morale reduced, and they can now run amok.
* Base farming levels of Nile provinces very slightly reduced. They still collectively constitute the world's most fertile region though.
* Scythed Chariots can now be recruited only from a level 2 smith and above instead of level 1. Chariot archers are recruitable only with a level 3 smith.
* Starting chariots disbanded
* A few other starting troops disbanded

Rebels
* Garrisons of Petra, Bostra, Ancyra, Nicomedia and Apollonia increased, within reason

EXTERMINATION AND PUBLIC ORDER
The problem: In pure vanilla, you have the option to "exterminate" a settlement you conquer, and the game tells you how many people will be killed. Because of squalor, culture penalty and distance to capital, extermination can quickly become the rule rather than the exception as your empire grows. This not only makes it hard to roleplay a faction with any degree of humanity, but is quite unhistorical. Organised mass slaughter of the majority of a settlement's population was historically rare. More likely was a situation where a commander would allow his troops to basically run riot, looting, raping, pillaging and generally brutalising the settlement. The difference here is that a lot of the locals would just flee or be turned out of their homes rather than being rounded up, executed and buried in a mass grave as RTW's text and graphics imply.

The solution: Text, the "exterminator" line of traits and graphics have been changed to make it a bit more ambiguous what exactly is happening in the settlement you decide to exterminate. Instead of the option to "exterminate populace", you are now given the option to "suppress populace". The text descriptions, graphics and sounds are now more consistent with the unbridled looting and burning of a victorious army set loose by their commander, rather than the 20th-century-style industrialised genocide implied by the original text. Of course if you're a complete git who loves the idea that your troops go around wiping out entire populations, the new text is ambiguous enough to allow you to believe that. In addition, a law bonus has been added to government buildings, ranging from 5% for a Governor's House to 25% for an Imperial Palace, which should reduce the need for sackings.

https://img46.imageshack.us/img46/93...tionkb4.th.jpg https://img212.imageshack.us/img212/...siondz7.th.jpg
Suppression

TRAITS (COMMAND/MANAGEMENT/INFLUENCE)
The problem: In pure vanilla, the tooltips that appear when you hold your pointer over a character's command stars, management scrolls or influence wreaths do not reflect that character's ability. For example, a character with one command star is described as a useless general. However, once the first generation of leaders has died off, you are likely to find that the average character has 0-1 stars/scrolls/wreaths. Therefore having one point of management/command/influence really makes you ever so slightly above average in that department - that's why they affect the game positively rather than negatively!

The solution: Tooltip text has been changed so that the scale between zero points and ten points now runs average - genius, rather than complete idiot - genius. Of course you can still get traits like "useless administrator", "bad attacker" etc., but if you have at least one point of ability in those areas then you are deemed to have a basic grasp of what you are doing rather than being a cretin.

EVENTS
Quite a few of the historical events found in the campaign don't actually happen as no date had been set for them. With a bit of historical research to find out when they happened, they are now back in the game. Look out for espionage in carthage and the completion of the great library at Alexandria. These have no effect on gameplay, they just restore a little flavour that CA put in and then took out for some reason.


5. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
================================================

Vanilla Balance Mod v4.0 now comes with a smart installer. Simply specify the correct directory for your RTW installation, and let the program do its work. The installer will create a backup of your original data so that when VBM is uninstalled, your original files will be restored. However, you are strongly advised to make your own backups for added peace of mind before installing VBM.


6. UNINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
================================================

Simply run the program "Uninstall Vanilla Balance Mod" in your Rome - Total War directory.


7. CREDITS
================================================

Mod Creator and Programmer: Barbarossa82
Scutarii unit cards: professorspatula
Carthaginian archers unit cards: Storm_Of_Horus
BugFixer content incorporated by kind permission of player1.
Additional thanks: Seasoned Alcoholic
Wikipedia (for material used in faction descriptions)
Creative Assembly (for making the game in the first place)


===DOWNLOAD===

Sorry, download has expired. New version planned. See below.

Here you can download Vanilla Balance Mod B.I. Extension v2.0, which applies some of the VBM changes to B. I. See the readme document below for features and details.
Note: This micro-mod requires BI 1.6, and for Vanilla Balance Mod v4 to already be installed for the Imperial Campaign

==============================================
=====VANILLA BALANCE MOD B.I. EXTENSION V2.0 README=====
==============================================
by Barbarossa82


CONTENTS
=========================
1 - Introduction
2 - Principal Changes From v1.0
3 - List Of Changes To Vanilla BI
4 - Requirements/Compatibility
5 - Installation Instructions
6 - Uninstallation Instructions
7 - Credits


1. INTRODUCTION
=========================
Vanilla Balance Mod BI Extension v2.0 ("VBM-BIX") is a micro-mod which extends certain features of Vanilla Balance Mod v4 to Barbarian Invasion, the expansion pack for Sega/Creative Assembly's Rome: Total War. It also makes some very small modifications to BI to increase completion and improve gameplay balance.
Because BI in general is a much better balanced game than the Imperial Campaign in RTW, the changes required are smaller. The dynamics of the period (large but fragile Roman empires, small but powerful Barbarian states) are well reflected already in BI and are not altered by VBM-BIX. What VBM-BIX does is to add certain aesthetic/completion/atmosphere elements from VBM v4 into BI, and to make some minor changes to trait awards. See below for a full list.
VBM-BIX is designed to be used by people already using Vanilla Balance Mod v4 for the Imperial Campaign.


2. PRINCIPAL CHANGES FROM v1.0
=========================
* Greatly improved installer/uninstaller preserves and restores user's original files.
* Replaced poor-quality faction maps with ProfessorSpatula's excellent versions
https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/...tionav2.th.jpg
* Added victory movies for factions which lacked them (uses vanilla imperial campaign movies from appropriate cultures)
* Added Roman Corvus Quinquiremes and Deceres
https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/...cerexh1.th.jpg https://img204.imageshack.us/img204/...rvusgs4.th.jpg
* Added Roman pagan pantheons
https://img412.imageshack.us/img412/...heonwm8.th.jpg https://img263.imageshack.us/img263/...emapin9.th.jpg
* Removed peasant handicap
* Removed government building law bonuses that were instituted by VBM-BIX 1.0, as they were impeding the cool Roman civil wars
* Added Sarmatian Auxilia/Scholae Palatinae rebalance
* Carried over extermination renaming from Vanilla Balance Mod v4 - extermination is now "suppression".


3. LIST OF CHANGES
=========================

FACTION CAMPAIGNS
* All non-emergent factions except the Rebels are now playable
* All factions have a campaign description, a leader pic, a victory movie, a faction selection screen map and an in-game victory conditions map. Credit to Professor Spatula for his superb maps.
* The Sassanid faction is now known as "the Persians", in accordance with usual historical practice in describing the Sassanid state. The term "Sassanid" is still to be found in a few places, like the faction selection screen and unit info scrolls. This is personal preference really, but I prefer to refer to the faction by the name of the nation, not its ruling dynasty.

EXTERMINATION
* Carried over the changes to extermination descriptions/graphics/traits from VBM v4. The huns still use the old "pile-o-skulls" graphic though, as they really did get up to that kind of thing.

ROMAN EMPIRE
* Both the Western and Eastern empires now have the ability to build Corvus Quinquieremes and Deceres from a Dockyard. These ships were already defined in the vanilla BI game, and the Eastern Empire even started off with a Corvus Quinqireme. However, there was no way to build them. Their cost has been slightly increased to compensate for their ready availability. Unit cards are provided - I actually made these before I figured out that there are no faction-specific naval unit cards in BI (lazy CA!), so they are a bonus.
* Both the Western and Eastern empires can now upgrade their pagan temples to Mithras and Sol Invictus to Pantheons in a Huge City, so there is not such a disadvantage to remaining Pagan. These have the same cost and build times as the pantheons from the Imperial Campaign, with appropriate bonuses. Building cards and building browser pics have been implemented. In addition, the pantheons can be seen on the battlemap. Don't know why this works, but it does!
* The Eastern Empire has lost the 5% happiness bonus it once got from its government buildings. I doubt this will have much effect, but the Eastern Roman Empire Rebels need all the help they can get.
* Stats of WRE's Sarmatian Auxilia and Scholae Palatinae tweaked so that SPs have higher attack and armour to reflect their higher cost and longer buildtime.

TOOLTIPS
* Carried over the traits tooltips descriptions changes from VBM v4 to BI.

TRAITS
* Some small adjustments have been made to traits to prevent factions being punished for success. Corruption traits now kick in at a higher treasury level, while Academy-line buildings are now more likely to provide positive traits, including the Good Administrator trait.

PERFECT SPY
* Added the "perfect spy" cheat/feature, as found in VBM v4. However in VBM-BIX, this is activated using the advisor at the Game Options screen (where you can choose save/load etc) rather than the Keyboard Shortcuts screen, as that doesn't appear to work.


3. REQUIREMENTS/COMPATIBILITY
=========================

VBM-BIX v2.0 requires the following:
* Original RTW patched to 1.5, with Vanilla Balance Mod v4 installed
* Barbarian Invasion expansion pack, patched to 1.6.
Basically if you have RTW, BI, the 1.6 patch and VBM 4 installed, you're good to go.

Like VBM v4, VBM-BIX is compatible with player1's BugFixer. This means if you install VBM-BIX, it will go straight over the top of BugFixer without damaging any of its changes and fixes, they will still be present in the campaign.
BugFixer is highly recommended for the best experience from VBM-BIX, but is not required. VBM-BIX will install fine over non-BugFixed BI. If you do choose to install BugFixer, then you MUST install or reinstall VBM-BIX AFTERWARDS.
VBM-BIX v2.0 has been tested with BugFixer 3.36. Earlier versions should work too but have not been tested.


4. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
=========================

Simply run the downloaded file and follow the onscreen instructions. Make sure to tell the installer the correct directory - it'll probably be different to the default if you have RTW Gold.


5. UNINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
=========================
Run the program "VBM-BIXuninstall" program located in your Rome - Total War\BI directory. Your original files will be restored.

NB: Because BI and RTW are interlinked and rely on some of the same data, uninstalling one can affect the other. For this reason, uninstalling VBM v4 from the Imperial Campaign while leaving VBM-BIX v2 installed over BI will lead to the reversion of the extermination pics in BI to their original versions. To avoid any unforeseen weirdness, players with RTW Gold or BI should either have both VBM v4 and VBM-BIX v2 installed, or have them both uninstalled.


6. CREDITS
=========================
Mod creator and programmer: Barbarossa82 of the totalwar.org forums
Faction selection screen and ingame maps: Professor Spatula
Creators of the original Rome - Total War and Barbarian Invasion: Creative Assembly
Source of info for faction descriptions: Wikipedia
BugFixer content incorporated by kind permission of player1


Download

Sorry, download has expired. New version planned. See below.

Hello Barbarossa ,, Would any of Darth's or Sinuhets formations be compatible with your mod ? cheers ... DTS

Hi there Dimitrios, provided these mods do not affect the export_descr_units.txt file, they should be compatible.

You REALLY need to host this file somewhere else. That website is confusing and stupid. It takes forever to get a file and you don't know you where to go until you get the message box like a minute later.

I'm getting an amazing download speed of 2KB/s. I'll have the whole 5.5MB in 1 and a half hours! Woooo!

I wonder what the other 8MB of my internet connection is doing.....

This looks like a wicked mod. Wonder if it runs ok with the Mercenary X-pak mod... Guess i'll find out hehe.

Yah that hosting site is very slow. Taking me more than 10 minutes to download that 5.5mb of the first link. Its not my connection as i just downloaded more than 20mb of an Oblivion mod at a much faster rate.

Anyhow, great work on this mod, Much appreciated for the time and effort that has been put into this :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PapaNasty

This looks like a wicked mod. Wonder if it runs ok with the Mercenary X-pak mod... Guess i'll find out hehe.

---

nope it doesn't; units files have been tweaked to include Poeni archers and the like, so both mods do'nt stack
I'm currently trying to port some mercs into my own-modded VBM, manually that is.

Good to see you again Barb!
Looks like a handy little mod, though i think for the most part, the ideas of it appear to be pretty similar to RTG.
Still, when i get the time, ill be aure to give it a go!

Works great, i'm playing as Carthage and the game is more enjoyable and competitive already :)

Hello Barbarossa,

Thank you for you efforts in this mods, but seem like I'm having problems trying to download it from that site. After the URL had been generated for me to click on, all it does is to bring me back to the main page of the site and ask me for the ID of the file again. Any help here? Tried disable pop-up blockers (using Opera, but also tried IE6) but still the same problem.

Or is it possible to upload it to some other places? Thanks.

(Been browsing the forums for quite some time but to think I actually registered as member to post this reply.. haha)

Your mod sounds awesome but your link is a dudd. I hope you get this sorted soon as i am looking forward to playing your mod. all i get is a text saying

Temporary link for downloading file was generated not propertly.

Axifile is an absolutely free service, financed by online advertising,
so we do not have an interests to support applications hides our advertising.

For generating the real link use ONLY web browser.
1. Goto address http://www.axifile.com?[PUBLIC FILE ID (7 digits number)]
2. Wait up to 20 seconds untill the real link will be generated.
3. Now you can download file by any appliction (Your browser, Download Master, FlashGet, GetRigth)
Note we are supports multi threads downloads.


Requrments for web browser
Javascript enabled
Cockies enabled
Macromedia flash player 6.0 +


Axifile team.

????????? please advise

I am sorry that the hosting service has lapsed. I am currently working on a new package of mods which I hope to release in the next few weeks, to include:
* New, updated version of Vanilla Balance Mod
* Two optional ways of playing with a unified Rome
* New, updated version of VBM BI Extension
* My mod for Alexander
Parts 1,2 and 3 are near complete and part 4 is undergoing work.

Let me know if you are really eager to play VBM immediately or if you can wait for the "gold collection". If you really want the old version now I can try and find somewhere to upload it again.

You can host it here.

I tried that before but I didn't get any response to my request. Could you advise me how to approach the Org authorities? The total for all the mods put together probably won't exceed 10MB.

EDIT: 500 posts wooo!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Barbarossa82

I am sorry that the hosting service has lapsed. I am currently working on a new package of mods which I hope to release in the next few weeks, to include:
* New, updated version of Vanilla Balance Mod
* Two optional ways of playing with a unified Rome
* New, updated version of VBM BI Extension
* My mod for Alexander
Parts 1,2 and 3 are near complete and part 4 is undergoing work.

Let me know if you are really eager to play VBM immediately or if you can wait for the "gold collection". If you really want the old version now I can try and find somewhere to upload it again.

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Hi barbarossa

thanks for your quick reply, seeing as i am messing with my own game at the moment trying to create a new campaign using the old one as a template, No i dont mean a mod I do mean a whole campaign as you could in the old MTW but thats off topic, so in short yes i am happy to wait for the gold.... Its sounds very promising :-) cant wait

G

Added: I do know a guy who runs a hosting website if you want i can pass you his details he may be able to help you.

Hello Barbarossa,

To upload, go to the top menu bar, and beside User CP there is Files. Lower the menu, and click Upload a File. Follow the instructions on the pop-up, and you should be set.

Your gold edition sounds very cool, I am really want to try the one for Alexander:2thumbsup:

Cheers,
RM3

Thanks, Roman_Man, I'll give that a try.

Meanwhile, does anyone have any comments/suggestions to make about the next (and hopefully really, really final) version? In the version I'm working on I've introduced some landbridges, which means I have to rebalance the campaign to take them into account.

Does anyone think that in the current version (4.0), the Seleucids are too strong and the Egyptians too weak?

Sounds like some great changes to the game are here at last. Do you have a rough date for release yet? I'll be starting a new macedon campaign soon and would like to have the chance to test this mod out on that game. I'm really interested in the units and events that ca turned off or didn't use, how can I find these in the mean time?

Do you unlock the unplayables in BI as well? Been trying to unlock them myself to no avail, would be handy to have an easy install mod that does that.

Sorry for the delay in reply, gents, I was in Ireland. To answer your questions; I would hope to release the full gold version by the end of this month. And yes, the unplayables in BI are unlocked, with the exception of the Slavs and the Romano-British. I may include a provincial campaign for the Romano-British though.

I'm really interested in the units and events that ca turned off or didn't use, how can I find these in the mean time?

For unused units there was a project on TWC to try and find them see:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...9&page=1&pp=20

I'm not sure about unused events, there are things like marian reforms in RTW that can be used in BI if you want - is that sort of thing you meant?

The reincorporated events are just the "historical events" that pop up from time to time, giving you a sense of context by informing of contemporary historical happenings appropriate to the given year. They are controlled by the descr_events.txt file in the imperial campaign folder. While looking at it, I saw traces of some events which didn't occur, since CA hadn't set a trigger date for them. I did a bit of research to find the appropriate dates and set the triggers.

A little progress update for you:

Vanilla Balance Mod v5 is now complete, except for the writing of the readme. The principal new features are:

* The game can now be played with the following optional versions of the Roman faction:
(a) traditional, three families + senate
(b) unified Roman faction plus Senate
(c) unified Roman faction with no Senate
With a single click, the player can switch the game between the three versions without the hassle of reinstalling.

* Landbridges have been added, compensating for the poor naval invasion AI. They are located at Gibraltar, Strait of Messina, Hellespont and Bosporus Straits. No more silly, weird-looking empires that extend into the empty steppes rather than crossing the Hellespont. Carthage sometimes invades southern Italy from Sicily.


Vanilla Balance Mod for BI v3 is substantially complete. Principal changes are:

* Landbridges as in VBM5, except for the Hellespont.
* By slightly changing the Vandals' starting position, a more reliable domino-effect is achieved. Prepare for mass hordes of Lombardi and Burgundii descending on the West as they flee the Vandal menace!
* Slight rebalancing.
* There may be a Romano-British provincial campaign if I get time.


My Alexander mod, entitled "Alexander Reborn", is approximately 25% complete. There are some exciting changes, to be revealed nearer the time!


The estimated release date for the Barbarossa82 Gold Collection is the first week of September.

lookin good

Yeah man, I want to play it.

A little teaser for you while work continues - new Greek strategy map captain model.

https://img159.imageshack.us/img159/...eekcaptcg2.jpg

lol, even got the spear there. very nice

still cant download!!!

That's cos it's not finished yet. All three components of the Gold Edition will be released (hopefully) by next Wednesday.