Htw Spin-off Mod - Ancient: TW

Hi Xehh,
I was just thinking of you - just checked mydatabus again, and see there's one more download done today, was wondering whether that was you finally meeting with success? From your last post I guess not :embarassed:

I take it you get the usual "download page" and a dialogue box for "Run or save"? Does it crash out then, give you some of it, or do something unimaginable? From your PM I think you said you'd turned off all your DL managers, pop-up blocker etc?

Don't know why, but it seems to choose one random victim per week, and makes him work REALLY hard at getting the download, and this week it's your turn :no:

Maybe I should look for a second host on the "belt and braces" principle :2thumbsup:

I might try again later, during the games, at least I've got something to watch then.

Hi Xehh II,

do you have Download accelerator ?? if so you cane disable browser intergration and turn it back on after DL, this wos my problem in first it take me a fue day s to find this out lol cose i am a twat lol from time to time:dizzy2: if this is not your problem then maybe somme other DL program you got on or your security on your PC

Morning all,

Xehh, Axel is our resident download problem expert now, having been one of the first "random victims" :beam:

Anyway, I've made the changes to the Black Sea (not drawn the new borders on to the MapTex yet, but the highlights show how they go). Certainly makes it a bit different around there now! Had bit of a struggle getting it to work at first, because I'd set everything up nicely for the ID_COLCHIAN_COAST, and eventually spotted that I had declared the neighbours for ID_CHOLCIAN_COAST .... DOH!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000060.jpg

I'll make a start on the new (well, moved...) land regions tonight.

Hi macsen rufus,

looking good mate looking good:2thumbsup:

All I know is, is that I'm using this Free Download Manager and the problem I get is that when the DL stops I cannot resume it, this is a problem because it says it'll take about 5 hours to DL but my internet connection automaticly diconnects after about 4 1/2 hours, which wouldn't normally be a problem if I was able to resume the DL.

Hi Xehh,

Have you tried without FDM? I'd have thought that if it does what it says on the website you should be nowhere near needing to resume. What speed net connection do you have?

I've just started a DL from here, to check it all goes okay - I'm on ISDN, have about 110kB/s available right now, and it's telling me about 20 mins, so I guess you're probably on dial up if it's telling you five hours? So far, it seems that all the problems we've had with downloads have been related to DL managers, dial-up connections, or the host site being down completely (which has happened a couple of times). Do you have any options like taking a memory stick to a web cafe?

Hmm, well it's downloaded okay - everything looks good, exactly the same size as the original I posted up (which is still on the same memory stick) etc.


Anyway, today's update, the new appearance of the Egyptian empire in early:

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000061.jpg

In case you can't quite work out the new provinces, the one in the south of Egypt is Finland, and Pereyaslavl sits in between Libya and Tunisia :laugh4:

I shall move another couple of chunks of real estate tonight, and then tidy up the names, attributes and unit homelands.

:2thumbsup:

I have dial-up, that's why I need a download manager, I could try it without but I don't think it'll work, i'll try anyway. I don't even have one of those sticks so I couldn't do that either.

@Xehh, well, if you can wait another few days, v2.0 is nearly ready, and I can pack that into 2 or 3 smaller packages for dial-up users. Seems a shame to endure all that pain twice in quick succession :2thumbsup:

The new main map is, I think, complete. The latest batch of changes were:

* merged Switzerland and Tyrolia
* merged Brittany and Normandy
* merged Champagne and Lorraine
* used the freed-up slots for Ammon, Moab and Makedon.
* border changes in Spain to make Castile an inland province, linking Navarre through to Leon.

I still need to adjust the unit homelands to make use of the "new" provinces, which shouldn't take too long. Then wonder whether I should add any new factions, or keep these all as rebel provinces for now?

I would put them in(Ammon and Moab, I presume?), as that would help portray the East more accurately. And as the East's the focus of the mod, it should receive more attention.

@Macsen, I can't wait to try the next version. I'm sure it'll work with smaller parts.

Here's a screenie from the latest version of the map, with Ammon and Moab showing, taken from an Alisyan viewpoint a few turns into the game:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000062.jpg

I've only tweaked the Early ("Age of Chariots") to run on this map so far, but over the weekend I hope to get all three up and running on it, including creating a couple of new factions, pending a bit of research. I might have to do some extra units, as Ammon and Moab are going to be pretty indistinguishable from the Edomites and Aramaeans in their unit rosters. I also need to find a suitable way to model their historic economic advantage of sitting along the "Royal Highway" and taxing one of the region's major trade routes - I was thinking I might give them the "Caravan Post" building that the Edomites currently have. I'm also not sure when the factions should apply - I think we can justify Moab in "early" as Ramses II left records claiming to have conquered the nation of mu'ab, as it's rendered in Egyptian, and I seem to recall mention of Ammonites in connection to the Exodus as well, though my biblical history is a bit shaky. They will both be in the "Late" era - else how could Solomon have had Ammonite and Moabite wives in his harem ~D

And yes, there is a river between Canaan and Ammon :2thumbsup:

Oh, and the southern province in Egypt I have called Thebes, mostly on the grounds that the various schisms in Egyptian history seemed to follow a theme of the Delta and Thebes going their separate ways, with the High Priests of Thebes forming rival dynasties. I've also shifted the recruitment zone for Nubian units down to Thebes, and out of Kemet.

In Europe, the barbarians don't seem to have noticed that Normandy, Switzerland and Champagne have been hijacked. The split in Greece seems to work, and although it might be a bit anachronistic for the earlier periods, I have called the northern section Makedon, and made it part of the homeland for a selection of Greek, Illyrian and Thracian units - a good reason for all of its neighbours to want to take it from the rebels :2thumbsup:

I haven't revisited Iberia yet, so I'm not sure how the changes to Castile (ie loss of coastline) are working out, but I suspect it's giving the IbCelts a bit of an advantage looking at the minimap.

Nice work, it looks great!

The East is really opening up now that the old Medieval province boundaries have been altered. I can't wait to try an Assyrian campaign on the new map.

I can get you some Ammonite and Moabite names if you'd like.

Sorry about the article not going in last month's Gahzette; I have very nearly finished a major part of my year's schooling, so the article should be in this month's issue.

Keep up the good work!

Ammonite kings:
Benammi
Sihon
Og
Nahash
Hanun
Shobi

Moabite kings:
Balak
Zippor
Eglon
Mesha

Thanks for those, Ignoramus, the only names I'd managed so far were Nahash & Hanon for Ammon and Mesa/Mesha for Moab, which seem to the right ones for the start of the Late Era. Earlier it gets difficult, so we shall have to improvise :2thumbsup:

I'm glad to say that, although sparse, the history of Ammon and Moab don't throw up the same weird bull-:daisy: pseudo-history that searches on the Edomites produced :laugh4:

I want to pin down a better list of Aramaic names if possible, as with three factions now using the list, I'd like a bit more variety for the generals.

I suppose I ought to go do some work soon, but then again, I wouldn't even have come in if I didn't have two new factions to research ~D One of these days I'll get an internet connection at home...

Can't wait to play this mod!!!!! It looks amazing. I've been following it's development over the past months with great interest and anticipation.

I just want to add that like some others I'm also on dial-up :-(
and haven't had much success with the current download (1.0 option) at mydatabus.

I don't know how hard it is to do, and don't want to make any extra work for you, when you've already done so much, but it would be awesome if you could break 2.0 up into smaller pieces - maybe even three or four pieces. I can get 30 MB per session without a Dload manger (GetRight) or 40-45 MB with Getright.

Thank you for your sensitivity to this issue, Macsen Rufus - YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!!!!!

Thank you,
Amarok

Hi Amarok, and thanks for the kind words :bow:

Back in the days of the first beta-release I did have extra ZIPs in four pieces, but as it turned out that install was rather bloated with unnecessary stuff, so it was still a bit large. I should be able to do the same again when v2.0 is released. I'm also looking at potential extra outlets like rapidshare which does support some DL managers, but I haven't finished reading all their "small print" yet.

Latest update: over the weekend, the Ammonites have made their appearance, and things are set up for the Moabites shortly, and the High era has also been ported across to the new map, with Late to follow shortly. I think I might need some new units to make the various "semitic" factions more unique - there are now Israelites, Aramaeans, Edomites, Moabites and Ammonites, all with very much the same unit roster.

Ammonites and Moabites are now up and running - this is from the Moabite campaign - trying them out in "high" but I think in the end they will not be available til late, as that is the sort of era when they emerged as a kingdom rather than a vague tribal grouping:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

https://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/00000065.jpg

Anyone looking at the Ammonite flag will be aware I just can't resist a good pun ~D

I love those Faction shields of sea shells and palm trees :P

Looks like the caribbean has invaded the middle east 2500 years from the future :juggle2: , oh well stranger things have happened I guess :laugh3: .

Looks good MR, can't wit to play, but just a suggestion. Remove/combine a few more provinces in the west to make more room in the east. Say, Anjou/Aquitiane, Sweden/Norway, Genoa/Milan, etc, As the northeast still looks a little sparse. I need to decimate my enemy with my Armenians!

"Now, how did YLC find out about
those Bermuda-short Spearmen???"
:thinking2:

:sharky:

Heh heh, they're not just any old seashells you know....


Latest: I'm porting the "late" era on to the new map now - though it's throwing a wobbly on me, which I think I've pinned down to a unit_prod or build_prod problem, then there are a few cosmetic changes on the MapTex and that should be finished. Then I need to give the "bonus campaign" a final once-over and then Version2 will be ready for release. I'm going to be off work this weekend, so hope to make a final push - unfortunately I've also got a leaking drain to fix in my kitchen, so time could be at a premium. I must prioritise - I can carry on washing up my dishes in the bath if need be :laugh4: :laugh4:

Hi mate
i love your mod i am playing as the hellens, got one question do are the no imortals in it?? i thought the persians made an army of 10.000 imortals :2thumbsup:

Hi Axel - there are no immortals because there's no Persian Empire yet - the game ends in 700BC when Greece is still in the Geometric/Archaic eras, ie about 150-200 years before the Persian Empire. Right now the Medes are still way off the edge of the map and probably not even looking at Assyria in a funny way yet (well, there's still the Neo-Babylonian empire in between which still has to rise and fall before Persia comes along ~D )

I made a bit more progress over the weekend, in between taking my kitchen apart :no: The "Late" era now works on the new map as well (and the problem turned out to be one of my favourites - tradegoods declared as a resource, DOH! How many times have I done that now?)

I've found out exactly how the "hero portraits" work now, so my historical heroes can have appropriate pics when they exist. I also didn't know before that a "historical hero" can crop up in a loyalist uprising if the faction hasn't "trained" him yet. The heroes I'm working on are mostly for the expansion campaign and the list is growing quite nicely - should add a bit of flavour, I hope. I still have a few tweaks to do on that scenario, as the economy isn't quite right - a lot of the minor factions tend to starve to death after being smothered by a surfeit of princes. It makes them interesting for a human player though, some of them being very tough.

Assuming I get my kitchen back together soon, I hope there'll be a new release in the next few days....

Hi Macsen

I'd really appreciate your advice on something. While waiting for the bonus campaign (and partly inspired by it) I've been trying my hand at shifting some provinces in the old vanilla map. I've got it all working except I can't move province names. If I add anything to Maptex (using "add text" in ultimatepaint) the game crashes when I then load it, and I haven't even attempted deleting old names. Am I missing something really simple? Do I need a different programme?

Any thoughts most welcome. This is kind of frustrating:wall:

Hi Western2 (is that Western, too ~D?)

I guess the likeliest problem would be the file format when you resave your MapTex. That image could be absolutely anything so long as the format and size are correct (so yes, if you wanted your favourite post from the Babe Thread as your map background, it would work :laugh4: ). And the other thing is that you need to have the MapTex2 which is a 4096x3152 (IIRC) copy of the MapTex. I normally use Photoshop for my actual editing, and this saves to the correct TGA format - MTW needs it to be in 24-bit, RGB mode. I don't know what UP does to the image - I do have it, originally got it for LBMs, but found it's easier to use GDS and Mithel ImageConverter for making LBMs, but never tried it for TGAs.

So, first check-list:
1) make sure you have the high and low-res versions of your map,
2) make sure you're saving your TGAs as 24-bit colour depth

If it still doesn't work come back tomorrow :2thumbsup:

EDIT: one final thought - does UP add the text as a new layer, in which case you may need to merge layers or flatten the image first, or do it as some sort of "attachment" to the file?

Good top see it progressing Mascen! Hurry up though, I have a CD I'd like to burn your mod too! ...did I say that out loud?!

Hey whats GDS? UP gives me headaches, main reason I use PSP, so an alternative program to both would be nice :2thumbsup: .

Ok thx mate:2thumbsup:

Hi YLC - GDS stands for Graphics Display System, which is a very clunky DOS-shell based utility with a rather involved installation process that can save files in the correct LBM format for MTW use, so it can convert from pretty much any graphics format into LBM and vice-versa of course (ie gif, jpg, BMP, TGA etc etc). I really only use it for conversion, but it's great for saving things like battle icons, it CAN do LUKUPMAPs (but my machine screams about virtual memory requirements :laugh4: ) and when I get around to it, the battle-map preview pics. It's a shareware thing, that claims to only work for 30-days, but I'm on 100 days plus by now and it still keeps chugging along. The only limit really is it will only "see" 25 files in a directory (so I keep a special directory called "Conversion" into which I save all my BMPs, then open up GDS and convert them to 256 colour LBMs in one session). Oh, and being DOS based it can of course only cope with 8-letter filenames, so you'd better get used to FEUDAL~1, FEUDAL~2, FEUDAL~3 sort of file names :laugh4:

To be honest, I now use Mithel ImageConverter for LUKUPMAPs, which is perfect for that job, once you get a correct colour palette saved for reloading. I stick with GDS for the small items though, as Mithel needs to be opened afresh for each file you do - I can email you a copy of GDS if you want to try it out, I received my copy from R'as al Ghul, so glad to share it further (just PM me your add if you want it). It's fine with XP, but Vista I don't know about. It goes back to the 1990s (truly an "Ancient" tool ~D), but then again the LBM format is old and obscure itself.

Version 2.0 release should be soon - I discovered another couple of things that need tweaking last night, then I shall make a start on the new installer (including easy, bite-size chunks for dial-up users).

Thanks Macsen. That was just the help I needed:2thumbsup: Downloaded a trial version of photoshop and it worked great. Now the next challenge - what is the weird font used on the map and where can I find it?? Again, all help much appreciated:yes:

Hi Western,

Glad that helped - as for the font, I haven't found out what it is - I did start doing a "cut-n-paste" alphabet from the map, but that got rather long-winded ~D Then I had another idea, but that's under wraps til the expansion comes out :beam: