Ancient TW - Original HTW Troops > Editing , Improving & Modifying

[Leith]

Hi Dimitrios! I like your work. The slinger looks good enough. I am going to post a screenshot of Macedonian Pikes. Hope you like it.




Here is another for Royal Pikemen:

[dimitrios the samian]

Wow !!!!
Leith , they are very very nice !
I'm sure Macsen will want to use them in the mod .

We can look forward to some great Mods with an extra bloke like yourself & Western offering help .
You know , I already have many questions & ideas I'd like to share with you & us all here .
Anyway , Im in the process of finishing some skinning ,, African Hoplite/Pikemen for the next instalment "Diadochi".

I can see different legs on the royal Pikeman , did you build these up from scratch or just mod the Hellenic ones ?
cheers

[Leith]

Hi there Dimitrios! Glad you like them. It might be a good idea to change your African pikemen a bit more. Changing the skin colour will make them different but not attractive enough. You might want to fiddle with the helm or change the armour colour into silver or dark bronze for example. I think the Karkades and Immortals bifs should also change into something more attractive yet foreboding. The Spartan Hoplites bif is something that needs more work. I have an alternative bif for the Spartans which I will show below, complete with shields and icons too:) I may be able to help with the Persian units too if you require my assistance. For the record I have modified the Hellenic bifs by editing most of them pixel by pixel. Difficult, yes but look at the result :)

Spartan Hoplites


Standard Hoplites


Here is one possibility for a heavy Eastern/Persian unit. It's still work in progress.

HeavyEasternUnit.bmp

[macsen rufus]

Looking good all round - I think we're gooing to need more variety of hoplites fir the Diadochi scenario when that comes around. And those 'biblicals' look like good additions for the North African and Hebrew roster, too

I don't have a lot of time before scooting off to work, so I'm going to continue in the main thread....

Edit to add: yep, the boyz arrived on the doorstep. Probably a bit jetlagged, but I'll unpack in the morning and see if I can make them jump around some (it's 2am now, so best left til after some sleep...)

[dimitrios the samian]

[QUOTE=Leith;2053706669]....... It might be a good idea to change your African pikemen a bit more. Changing the skin colour will make them different but not attractive enough. You might want to fiddle with the helm or change the armour colour into silver or dark bronze for example.......... I think the Karkades and Immortals bifs should also change into something more attractive yet foreboding....... The Spartan Hoplites bif is something that needs more work. I have an alternative bif for the Spartans which I will show below, complete with shields and icons too:) ..............I may be able to help with the Persian units too if you require my assistance. For the record I have modified the Hellenic bifs by editing most of them pixel by pixel. Difficult, yes but look at the result :)
[QUOTE=Leith;2053706669]

Hello Leith ...

Your Hellenic units look great mate ! pixel by pixel Wow ,
Im sure Macsen will use them all ... just send him a pm & you can email them to him .

I must also comment on your great Unit Panel Icons , they look great mate , jut a quick lance & you can differentiate the Hoplite Troops , did you do those also ?

I know the work required is enormous , but I feel we are so blessed with this great game & even moreso that we have banded together again & all have skills & enthusiasm to boot .

ok re:African Hoplites ,Yes I agree they would look much nicer "slightly different" feel free to draw up a front side & two oblique views for us to have a look

I thank you for yr offer to help & I accept ........ for the meantime lets keep pixeling the time away

Do share your thoughts or a few pics on the Kardakes & Immortals & I will start a thread later on & post pics in that thread of what we currently have now ( Hellenic & Bronze & ATW).

Question , Do you use the Green& Purple for faction colours on the units ?
Do you use Photoshop or another program ?
Have you re made a complete new bif plate yet ? ...( I really want to learn this )

re: pixel by pixel >> I have made a big discovery in the way I re-skin , cutting time down by a huge amount (more later as I refine it & then share it here )

cheers for now Leith & some more eye candy



Mac .... meet Abdul , Mohamed , Habib & his mate , Slingers !!
No more Vikings pretending to be Greeks or Easterners
more on progress later .

[macsen rufus]

Ok, I have the tunic guys, mostly belted and booted. I can get them working as is, I think, without too much trouble and when the final plates are done just update it again.

Familiar story - you send guys to the front and some corrupt quarternmaster nicks half the boots to sell on the black market

[dimitrios the samian]

Good news ! they work fine
Im looking forward to seeing them in beta testing & beta form , hehe .
I'll have them finished before the first Full Release of ROP.
In the meantime , I'll plug away on the other troops .
cheers for now , back in 12hrs , zzzzzzzzzz

[Leith]

Hello Dimitrios!

Regarding unit icons, I sometimes take them from other mods designed for RTW. I resize them and change them slightly or heavily depending on the situation.

I always include the faction colours in my bifs one way or another. However I sometimes focus on one major colour for the bif while preserving a small room for faction colours. Case in point, red is the major colour in the spartan Hoplites bif but the shoulders are blue reflecting the faction colour.

I usually do all the modding/editing using Photoshop but I use CorelDraw to get the bmps into the only mode the MTW engine approves of : the 8-bit mode.

Regarding Egyptian/African pikmen, I'll see what I can do. I hope you will not lose your enthusiasm for modding MTW :)