XL Mod?

[Kamakazi]

Ive been thinking about gettin the xl mod could you explain the advantages/ disadvantages and tell me what the mod changes?

[Martok]

I'll do my best to hit the highlights:

Adds a ton of new factions (for all 3 main eras), and the Papacy & Mongols are now playable (Mongols in the Late era only). The mod also introduces a good number of new units, and quite a few existing units have had their stats tweaked/adjusted.

Peasants have been eliminated, and factions generally start with more infrastructure. As a result, the AI now generally fields better armies than before -- they tend to be a bit smaller than in vanilla MTW/VI, but comprised of better-quality units.

Trade income has been reduced (although it's still worth building ships for trade) and farm income has been increased, which helps out the AI's economy.

Land bridges have been removed.


Of course there's a host of other small changes, but those are probably the most noticeable ones the XL mod brings to the game. Try it out; I'm quite confident you'll enjoy it.

[Wasp]

Basically, once you go XL, you probably won't go back to vanilla. At least I didn't ;)

[Raz]

And don't forget to download and install Tyberius's Add-On... makes playing battles that much more interesting.

[MJF]

What's contained in Tyberius's Add-On?

[Raz]

Well, if you follow the link......

1.- Total MTW unit graphics change (I think for better)
- new weapons texture for all units
- new shield texture for all units
- new items position for some units
- new graphics for flying arrows and javelins
- size of some units changed
- includes omar pacha's ultimate icons
- some units's stats changed

2.- 41 new units

3.- Partial Campmap graphic change
- new flags, shields, and colour for some factions.
- added some portraits
- slightly changed maptex

4.-minor changes
- added muster field to build peasants, (if you don't want them, don't build the muster field)
- added princesses to all factions
- Elementary buildings are built faster

The main reason I got it was for the new unit graphics for the battles and the 41 extra units... You'll need to check out the screenshots, they really do make it much more interesting.

[oz_wwjd]

Would it be possible to get some info how just how good the new units are in the add-on?Just downloaded it and would like some info on what's worth building and what's not?

[Kamakazi]

ok wut exactly do you mean by land bridges??
and...are the cheats usable...i only use them when i feel like messin around but can u use them still with the xl mod?

also wut kinda new provinces are added

and finally is is compatible with vista

[Tratorix]

ok wut exactly do you mean by land bridges??
and...are the cheats usable...i only use them when i feel like messin around but can u use them still with the xl mod?

also wut kinda new provinces are added

and finally is is compatible with vista

Land bridges are connections between provinces with a body of water between them, such as Wessex and Flanders and Denmark and Sweden.

I believe all the cheats work with the xl mod, but don't quote me on that.

Most of the new provinces are just some of the bigger province split up( Poland is now Greater Poland and Lesser Poland).

If you've managed to get MTW itself working on Vista, the mod shouldn't mess it up.

[Raz]

In addition to what Tratorix has said, all cheats work on every mod... like all cheats work on every mod for RTW and M2TW.

[bondovic]

And don't forget to download and install Tyberius's Add-On... makes playing battles that much more interesting.

Some amazing work done by Tyberius with that patch. But some of the new units are baffling. The "Basque Warriors" for example: Very good attack, good defense, large shield, AP... the works! All at the discount cost of 150 florins at standard size. And reachable from "Fort" -level!

They are seriously overpowered war winners that turn the first stage of any campaign into a race for Navarre. Then it's smooth sailing for whoever gets them as you can churn them out even without morale upgrades and send them straight to battle. They are the first unit i edit after installing the Tyberius patch.

[I of the Storm]

Seconded. Although Tyberius patch is great work there is still some work to do concerning the balancing of the game. Plus the building times are too short for my taste. The way it is now, the time to tech up to each eras best units is effectively halved.

Apart from that it's a great improvement on the battlefield. On the campmap, as said, it could use some tweaking.

[bondovic]

Seconded. Although Tyberius patch is great work there is still some work to do concerning the balancing of the game. Plus the building times are too short for my taste. The way it is now, the time to tech up to each eras best units is effectively halved.

Apart from that it's a great improvement on the battlefield. On the campmap, as said, it could use some tweaking.

Agreed. It almost feels like you don't really "deserve" your fancy units. Gets a little to arcade style if you don't edit some of that stuff.

[Kamakazi]

i did get the xl mod and i have palyed it a bit but i dont like how i cant play my old saved games from vanilla

[Tratorix]

i did get the xl mod and i have palyed it a bit but i dont like how i cant play my old saved games from vanilla

Any mod will make your old save games unplayable. I thought you would be aware of that. .

[oz_wwjd]

I've ben in contact via PM with Tyberius about the building times things.He says for version 2 of his mod,that will be changed,plus some other fixes.

[bondovic]

I've ben in contact via PM with Tyberius about the building times things.He says for version 2 of his mod,that will be changed,plus some other fixes.

Excellent news. Although, for me, that isn't the major concern. Rather it's the unit stats that are tedious to fix. Of course, I change basically every unit in one way or the other, so it really doesn't matter what patch or mod i install - I have to do it manually anyway. The buildings are easier, or faster really, so they don't bother me much.

Always improve! Go Tyberius!

[oz_wwjd]

Excellent news. Although, for me, that isn't the major concern. Rather it's the unit stats that are tedious to fix. Of course, I change basically every unit in one way or the other, so it really doesn't matter what patch or mod i install - I have to do it manually anyway. The buildings are easier, or faster really, so they don't bother me much.

Always improve! Go Tyberius!

I uust agree with the modding bit.I've been trying to mod a number of the new units to make them more interesting,but the continal errors message I get,are beginning to annoy me,especially when my backups suffer the same errors.It seems like Tiberius designed his mod to be mod-resistant,once he's done with it.

[bondovic]

I uust agree with the modding bit.I've been trying to mod a number of the new units to make them more interesting,but the continal errors message I get,are beginning to annoy me,especially when my backups suffer the same errors.It seems like Tiberius designed his mod to be mod-resistant,once he's done with it.

Really? And you're using the Gnome editor? Could the error messages be coming from the build_prod as opposed to the unit_prod? It's conceptually impossible that a txt file that has worked would cease to work if there are no changes made to it or anything relating directly to it. So you just need to backtrack your steps and think hard about what might have gone wrong.

[macsen rufus]

If you have multiple "backups" it can sometimes throw the game - I've often found that simply RENAMING prod files can solve a CTD error. The game does get very confused if there are similarly named files in the directory - either change file extension, or physically move, any prod files other than the ones you are testing - this may kill some of the eras, but at least you can test the particular files you're interested in.

[oz_wwjd]

Well seeing I've learnt not to touch the build_prod file I managed to save over that with the Unit_prod one once and it caused all kinds of errors, I can't see what I'm doing wrong. I go in,make what cahnges I want and make sure that nothing else has changed,then save the file and exit.It morked fine with the XL mod but tiberius Mod doesn't seem to like my changes.

[Raz]

Let me get this right... You open up GnomeEditor and then open up the unit_prod sheets. You then fiddle with the stats and re-save the file over the top of the same unit_prod.txt you opened up... right? If that is the case and it CTD's when you start up the game, then try opening the prod sheet you've edited with a plain text editor - like notepad. Make sure word-wrap is turned off and then check if there is some gibberish that looks out of place. This will (if it is there at all) be found at the end of the the unit entries, at the bottom. GnomeEditor has a habit of placing gibberish at the bottom and, if it's let to grow, can have adverse effects on the game. Think of this stuff as weeds in a garden, it spreads and soon takes over your entire lawn if not dealt with early... Unless you don't have a lawn.

Also, remember that the XL mod and the T/A-O use separate sheets for each of the eras, so you'll have to modify all sheets, but I don't know if that could cause errors, at most it'd cause inconsistencies in unit stats.

[bondovic]

If all else fails, make backups often, and test equally often. It's tedious, for sure, but beats making all changes at once and have it CTD. Put your backups in a folder of their own so as to not confuse the game.

That's about all I can think of. Good luck, man.

[oz_wwjd]

I've given up modding it as it ate up more time than it was worth.

[Raz]

*sighs*
I know the feeling, you put plenty of time and effort into the job, but when the game refuses to show you the results of the effort you put into it, you kinda feel empty and unrewarded.

Who knows, maybe you might come back to it in a few months... or longer, and show us all what a great modder you've become, maybe...

[gunslinger]

I downloaded the new XL mod onto the desktop of my new laptop. When I double-click it, nothing happens. I right-clicked and checked properties. It said the program was blocked because it was a download, so I unblocked it and clicked Apply. It still won't open, and MTW VI still doesn't show the XL campaigns. The icon on my desktop looks like a little document with a red "A" in the bottom, right corner. Any suggestions?

EDIT: In the properties screen it says this program should be opened with "HIPS Email Attachment Helper." Don't know if that helps. I've downloaded this huge file twice with the same results.

[Kamakazi]

i installed xl mod and now it wont work lolol ill jus go back to vanilla