Places to raze, people to slay...

Well, I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment trying to get the new patch installed without destroying all the work I've done (I've been stupidly editing the vanilla files of my main installation instead of using the mod folder like a good modder, bwah), so things are going a tad slow now as I get into the hard aspect of the mod: text editing. :whip:

However, I also did a little editing of building textures to give the mod it's own look: at this point we can's edit the models of the building, but we can fiddle about with textures. So let's have a loot at some of the lovely places you'll be commanding (or destroying) in The Hyborian Age: Total War!

Tarantia, capital of Aquilonia
View from the Market District
https://img242.imageshack.us/img242/...arantiacu9.jpg
So he moved across the pillaged land, halting only to rest his horse, eating frugally of the food Zeiata had given him, until, on a dawn when he lay hidden on a river bank where willows and oaks grew thickly, he glimpsed, afar, across the rolling plains dotted with rich groves, the blue and golden towers of Tarantia. - The Hour of the Dragon

Belverus, capital of Nemedia
View from the Temple of Ibis
https://img475.imageshack.us/img475/...scemetaig9.jpg
Gardens and pleasure villas surrounded the walls of Belverus. Drowsy slaves, sleeping by their watchman's pikes, did not see the swift and furtive figure that scaled walls, crossed alleys made by the arching branches of trees, and threaded a noiseless way through orchards and vineyards. Watch-dogs woke and lifted their deep-booming clamor at a gliding shadow, half scented, half sensed, and then it was gone. - The Hour of the Dragon

The Capital of Hyperborea
View from a nearby hill
https://img242.imageshack.us/img242/...erboreaup5.jpg
Another factor has added to the impetus of Hyborian drift. A tribe of that race has discovered the use of stone in building, and the first Hyborian kingdom has come into being - the rude and barbaric kingdom of Hyperborea, which had its beginning in a crude fortress of boulders heaped to repel tribal attack. The people of this tribe soon abandoned their horse-hide tents for stone houses, crudely but mightily built, and thus protected, they grew strong. There are few more dramatic events in history than the rise of the rude, fierce kingdom of Hyperborea, whose people turned abruptly from their nomadic life to rear dwellings of naked stone, surrounded by cyclopean walls - a race scarcely emerged from the polished stone age, who had by a freak of chance, learned the first rude principles of architecture. - The Hyborian Age

Gwawela, a village in the Wolf Pict tribelands
View from the back of a crowd
https://img179.imageshack.us/img179/...gwawelawb5.jpg
"They're devils," mumbled the frontiersman. "They must have been watching us from the time we left midstream. We walked into a trap. Arrows from all sides were ripping into us before we knew it. Most of us dropped at the first fire. Three or four broke through the bushes and came to hand-grips. But there were too many. Conan might have gotten away. I haven't seen his head. Been better for you and me if they'd killed us outright. I can't blame Conan. Ordinarily we'd have gotten to the village without being discovered. They don't keep spies on the river bank as far down as we landed. We must have stumbled into a big party coming up the river from the south. Some devilment is up. Too many Picts here. These aren't all Gwaweli; men from the western tribes here and from up and down the river..."They might have gathered here to watch Zogar's magic-making. He'll make some rare magic with our carcasses. Well, a border-man doesn't expect to die in bed. But I wish we'd gone out along with the rest." - Beyond the Black River

And a very special mystery screen! Anyone care to guess where this is?

https://img171.imageshack.us/img171/...eryfulliz3.jpg

Whoa, did you manage to change how buildings look?

In general, very nice mod, I must say!

Cool Idea and looks great, but wouldn't this mean that u need to give each faction there own culture?

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Originally Posted by SigniferOne

Whoa, did you manage to change how buildings look?

In general, very nice mod, I must say!

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Cheers! I haven't been able to get into the models, but I've been able to access and fiddle about with the blocksets (which are just the shared textures for bricks, roofs and stuff), it isn't too spectacular, but it shows that it can be done. I'd like to change the colours and some of the details like Byzantine glass windows into more appropriate Hyborian things later on, to make it more unique.

(love your animations btw, assuming you're *the* SigniferOne)

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Originally Posted by Eng

Cool Idea and looks great, but wouldn't this mean that u need to give each faction there own culture?

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I'm not sure what the overall culture limit is (I've heard it's 7 or 6, same as RTW) but I don't think it'll be too difficult.

At the moment the culture set is thus:

North European = Barbarian
South European = Hyborian
Islamic = Hyrkanian
Mesoamerican = Ancient

I hope to expand it to seven cultures:

North European = North Hyborian
South European = South Hyborian
Islamic = Hyrkanian
Mesoamerican = Ancient
New 1 = Savage (based on Mesoamerican)
New 2 = Shemite (based on Islamic)
New 3 = Barbarian (Based on North European)

As it stands, there are a few problems like Stygia and the Picts sharing a culture (but the Picts can't build big cities like Stygia, hopefully that would be doable)

Indeed I am he, thanks for the kudos.

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Originally Posted by Taranaich

Cheers! I haven't been able to get into the models, but I've been able to access and fiddle about with the blocksets (which are just the shared textures for bricks, roofs and stuff), it isn't too spectacular, but it shows that it can be done.

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Could you clarify what you mean here? I didn't know we had access to blocksets, and as you may know, a bunch of people have been trying to decode the settlements format in this thread:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=88241

Well, you'll have to bear with me as this isn't the computer I have the mod on (long story), but this is the jist:

In the data folder, there's a "blockset" folder, or possibly "tileset". Also in this are a number of other folders arranged by culture, and one called "ambient." I think is where the .texture files are, and they can be converted with GOM's texture>dds converter. There are a few other folders based on how they appear with snow, and some for non-settlement buildings like the northern manor and windmills. I don't think it's related to any settlement code, it's one of the few things I can get working without going into scary codework.

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Originally Posted by Taranaich

And a very special mystery screen! Anyone care to guess where this is?

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Stygia is it?? Chris

Stygia it is! Have a balloon. :balloon2:

The city itself is meant to represent Khemi, the mighty port city of Stygia, but it's a little small for my liking. Right now I can cities are the largest settlements available to Stygians (I replaced the Aztec faction with them), but I'd like to give the Stygians the same number of settlement tiers as others, including huge cities like Khemi. I hope it's possible, since Stygia deserves some mighty cities.

Looks good as always.

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Originally Posted by Taranaich

Stygia it is! Have a balloon. :balloon2:

The city itself is meant to represent Khemi, the mighty port city of Stygia, but it's a little small for my liking. Right now I can cities are the largest settlements available to Stygians (I replaced the Aztec faction with them), but I'd like to give the Stygians the same number of settlement tiers as others, including huge cities like Khemi. I hope it's possible, since Stygia deserves some mighty cities.

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Yup!!! Stygian cities are indeed on the maps, at least 2 if I remember correctly, maybe 3. Can always add smaller ones mentioned in books, or even from some of the new literature being published.

Your pic looks Stygian, dark, mysterious, dangerous, spooky. It also looks Egyptian enough using the vanilla Aztec buildings. A mix of Aztec/Meso American and Egyptian buildings would be good IMHO.

Charitos, lightly clad infantry, etc. are mentioned IIRC. :egypt:

I got a copy of MTW2 but haven't installed it as I hear the vanilla game stinks and is unbalanced. i will wait for mods to come out, but I will have to test the vanilla.

Good luck and verysharp work, Chris

Cheers again lads.

Now, the thing is I've actually been working on Stygian units too, despite them not appearing on the map in the first release. :dizzy2: I was sick of doing Hyborian units, and rather than take a break I decided to try making new units. If everything goes well, I might even just extend the map a bit to include Stygia, though I'd need to add Koth, Shem, Argos and Zingara too. If nothing else, Stygia will probably be available for custom battles. I might even put a preview up for them.

I've basically based the Stygian army on what we know of the old Egyptians: lightly armoured noble warriors, tonnes of Kushite slaves and chariots aplenty. Currently there's no way to do chariots, though Bwian and co are working hard on getting one working in the Warhammer mod, which would be a great thing for the modding community. :2thumbsup:

The vanilla game is sadly rather unbalanced (Venice wipes out Hungary and Milan wipes out France half the time, to say nothing of the Danish Juggernaut), but there are plenty of good mods on the horizon: I know I'll be getting Warhammer and Broken Crescent when they come out! Just as well my hard drive crashed four months ago, now I have plenty of gig space for mods...

Anidea for a map: Initially make a large map encompassing all of Hyboria, and use it throughout the developement of the mod, with the entire unused portion of the map being blocked, black or gray in color, and listed in the text files as only one huge blocked region, the same as impassable mountains. Then you can add and activate regions at your leisure.

Chris

That's actually a much better idea, thanks dude. There still hasn't been much work done on the in-game campaign map (constantly crashing before starting the campaign dagnabit) so if I can get it working that's probably the best idea.

You're welcome. I was thinking you may have thought of that already but sometimes we miss things like that. itcan be done, it's just that the unused portions of the map have to be a region or regions that are blocked, that is simply not activated or listed as impassable.

I didn't know that 'dagnabit' was used in Ireland!!! I though only 'Ma and Pa Kettle', 'The Bevery Hillbillies", and ilk used that term!!! Carn'sarn ferners using our Hillbilly lingo!!! Although much of that lingo is originallyfrom Britain, Scotland and Ireland, as are many 'Hillbillies', it and they are just tweaked a bit. Sometimes a big bit!!!

The word 'Hillbilly' may actually have originated in northern Michigan and not in the South and Appalachia BTW. I'm from southern Michigan, Detroit, so take it from there ... :dizzy2: :juggle2: :laugh4:

There are people here that can help you with that map and the tect for it, but not me, as I have only done a wee bit with MTW and not MTW2, othrwise I could help a bit.

Chris

simply amazing

I like the Kallian Publico gravestone. Great job on the cities. Are you doing this entire project by yourself?

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Originally Posted by Volkmar

I like the Kallian Publico gravestone. Great job on the cities. Are you doing this entire project by yourself?

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A labour of love, it is. I've had a lot of input by people more informed about Howard than me in terms of the lore and background, but most of the project will be done by myself. If I hit a major block or obstacle I might bring someone in to help to do something like mapping or scripting, but I'm pretty confident I can get the whole thing done by myself. It'll probably take longer, but this is something I've been preparing for over a long time, so it would be hard for me to defer any work over to someone else over such a personal project. I'm not discounting it completely though, if there's something really difficult I don't mind handing over to someone else I'd do that, but most of the modellers and mappers seem to be tied up in other mods at the moment, and I'd rather exhaust all the options before bothering someone else.

It is very very nice!
I really like thhe Hyborian style!

The black Stygian textures look great, Taranaich! And of course meso-American works well for that culture.

A thought about the Picts -- perhaps the buildings used in the Kingdoms expansion for Native Americans (Apache, etc.) would work better for them? They're essentially described much like Iriquois in the stories, I believe, with 'long huts' etc...

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Originally Posted by cherryfunk

A thought about the Picts -- perhaps the buildings used in the Kingdoms expansion for Native Americans (Apache, etc.) would work better for them? They're essentially described much like Iriquois in the stories, I believe, with 'long huts' etc...

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Yeah,I recall a couple of stories mentioning Pictish long huts.

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Originally Posted by cherryfunk

The black Stygian textures look great, Taranaich! And of course meso-American works well for that culture.

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It's more in lieu of a more "Egyptian" style of architecture, but it also works as a more primitive, fantasy-styled Egyptian too.

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A thought about the Picts -- perhaps the buildings used in the Kingdoms expansion for Native Americans (Apache, etc.) would work better for them? They're essentially described much like Iriquois in the stories, I believe, with 'long huts' etc...

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The Picts are a funny race, and though they do seem to be very Native American in style, there are a few differences: the most obvious being that they're a "white" race.

The Native American settlements would be a much better choice for the Picts, and the Lithuanian settlements would be great for the Cimmerians and Nordics. Currently I have the Picts and Stygians sharing an "Ancient" settlement type, but I'd much prefer to have as many different settlement varieties as possible, and nab some from Kingdoms.

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It's more in lieu of a more "Egyptian" style of architecture, but it also works as a more primitive, fantasy-styled Egyptian too.

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Exactly, that's what I like about it -- it seems to have more of the 'dark, sorcerous' atmoshpere that Stygia embodies. I think it works quite well. Just hope we can get chariots working :D

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The Picts are a funny race

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Dude! If you said that to Bob Howard, he'd go all :boxing: on you!

I think the Picts as depicted in Beyond the Black River are an absolute masterstroke of sword & sorcery fiction. Not only did REH essentially invent an entirely new fictional genre with the early Conan stories, but with 'Black River' he melded it with American frontier adventure, creating something so unique it still had the power to stagger me when I first read it 50 years after it was written. Conan the Cimmerian fighting Indians? Indians who summon forth saber-tooth tigers!?!?!?! There aren't many writers with the ability to pull that off!

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the Lithuanian settlements would be great for the Cimmerians and Nordics.

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That's an excellent idea! In fact with all the various components of Kingdoms, it's possible to do a pretty nice recreation of Hyboria... :beam:

...so this mod's going to Kingdoms,then? Or is it just an "I wish I could use that from Kingdoms" thing?
I may have to get an anti-SecuROM program,then,if the former is so.

Well, I suggested that we move to Kingdoms, given that the best mods seem to be doing so (SS, BC etc.), it doesn't cost much, and it offers some great features. Besides the Native American and Lithuanian buildings, there's an increase in the max unit size, the possibility of permanent forts, and special features for generals (which could be used to mimic sorcery or other supernatual powers)... personally I'm very impressed with the Kingdoms expansion, I strongly recommend any fan of the mod get it...

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Originally Posted by cherryfunk

Well, I suggested that we move to Kingdoms, given that the best mods seem to be doing so (SS, BC etc.), it doesn't cost much, and it offers some great features. Besides the Native American and Lithuanian buildings, there's an increase in the max unit size, the possibility of permanent forts, and special features for generals (which could be used to mimic sorcery or other supernatual powers)... personally I'm very impressed with the Kingdoms expansion, I strongly recommend any fan of the mod get it...

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Yeah,I know what you mean,but the SecuROM issue still makes me a tad uneasy.

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Originally Posted by cherryfunk

Exactly, that's what I like about it -- it seems to have more of the 'dark, sorcerous' atmoshpere that Stygia embodies. I think it works quite well. Just hope we can get chariots working :D

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Hah, I hope Bwian & the gang don't mind half the modding world immediately jumping on them as soon as they crack it!

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Dude! If you said that to Bob Howard, he'd go all :boxing: on you!

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Ooooh, poor choice of words on my part!:laugh4:

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I think the Picts as depicted in Beyond the Black River are an absolute masterstroke of sword & sorcery fiction. Not only did REH essentially invent an entirely new fictional genre with the early Conan stories, but with 'Black River' he melded it with American frontier adventure, creating something so unique it still had the power to stagger me when I first read it 50 years after it was written. Conan the Cimmerian fighting Indians? Indians who summon forth saber-tooth tigers!?!?!?! There aren't many writers with the ability to pull that off!

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Damn right there aren't. Beyond the Black River is a masterpiece of invention: as you say, who would've thought to meld the American frontier with high medieval adventure and primeval sorcery? It's completely unique, and it works completely with the rest of the world.

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...so this mod's going to Kingdoms,then?

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I think it is, Spartan. Although I'm also highly skeptical of Securom and other rootkits, the additions listed by cherryfunk are pretty compelling. Measures to remove securom are getting better, and hopefully by the time the mod's out it will be easy enough to remove. At least it isn't Starforce, that thing was a nightmare!

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Originally Posted by Taranaich

I think it is, Spartan. Although I'm also highly skeptical of Securom and other rootkits, the additions listed by cherryfunk are pretty compelling. Measures to remove securom are getting better, and hopefully by the time the mod's out it will be easy enough to remove. At least it isn't Starforce, that thing was a nightmare!

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Yeah,that's true.