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Thread: Duke John's New Unit Graphics

  1. #1
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    Arrow Duke John's New Unit Graphics

    *** UPDATE ***
    This looks like digging up a dead old thread, but more than 4 years after starting this thread I'm still getting PMs about this, so I've re-uploaded my unit graphics together some tools (including mapmaker utility LMM4 and unitmaker utility UM_LOTR).
    http://www.mizus.com/files/files/Too..._resources.zip [51 MB] (Thanks to TosaInu for hosting it)
    ================================================================
    Edit by drone-> link on our host: http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/685..._resources-zip
    ================================================================

    As I have stopped modding M:TW some years ago I cannot give you any help on how to use these files or how to mod in general. Of course you can still send me a PM but expect a "I can't help you." reply if the question/problem is too vague or when I simply don't remember/know the answer.

    The included:
    • Ancient Greece units and map
    • Early and Late Medieval
    • War of the Roses [post 1450 AD]. These are my best ones with the weapons rendered together with the soldier himself for a perfect fit. If anyone still wishes to create units then do the same as it will save you loads of time positioning the weapons and shields.


    Screenshots:

    Units and map of Ancient Greece



    War of the Roses





    Cheers,
    DJ


    *** OLD ***

    Hello everybody,

    Below are some files that I uploaded for modders and players to spice up their game or that can be used for personal mods. The files mostly contain new unitgraphics that you can use.

    Cheers, Duke John



    *** DUKE JOHN'S UNITGRAPHICS PACK AVAILABLE NOW ***

    *** TERMS OF AGREEMENT ***

    - I do not hold responsibility for any consequenses that may occur when installing or when using the files.
    - The files are free for use, however if you with wish to use this pack for publication or when you wish to upload to your own server I would appreciate it if you contact me beforehand. Not that I would refuse, but just to know what happens with the pack.
    - If you want to use this pack for a mod and you intent to make that mod public then I would appreciate a credit for using my work.

    *** INSTALLATION ***

    - Download the ZIP-file [4,5 MB]
    - Unzip the file into a temporary directory. Copy the content of that directory and paste into your M:TW - VI installation. Overwrite all files.

    Notes:
    - This pack should work on all M:TW - Viking Invasion installations.
    - Language version does not matter.
    - No changes were made besides the unitgraphics. These are placed in the custom folders.
    - Sadly this pack does cause version conflicts in MP. There are ways to avoid this, but that would have required many more files (larger download) and would cause problems with different language versions. I would advise to use a seperate installation for MP. Alternatively you can copy the content of the MP_BACKUP folder into your MTW-VI installation which makes your game MP compatible but you the new unitgraphics are no longer used.
    - There is no un-install option. This pack is mainly meant for modders who want to add new unitgraphics.

    *** CONTENTS ***

    This pack has new unit graphics for:
    - Archers
    - Longbowmen
    - Chivalric Foot Knights
    - Gothic Foot Knights
    - Swiss Pikemen
    - Swiss Armoured Pikemen
    - Halberdiers
    - Militia Sergeants
    - Pikemen
    - Billmen
    - Feudal Sergeants
    - Feudal Men-at-Arms
    - Gallowglasses
    - Swabian Swordsmen

    And an extra BIF for modders that enables:
    - Burgundian Militia
    - Burgundian Pikemen

    I did not pay much attention at placing the weapons and shields. I am making much better graphics now for the Wars of the Roses mod, and I can't be bothered with finetuning the coordinates. For the modders who wish to improve this, they can use the newest version of readbif, although this is still a very laborous task.


    I wish to thank Wellington for his excellent tools and the Org-members for the times I got stuck.

    If you experience problems then you can post at the Org in this thread: http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin....t=10725



    Cheers, Duke John

    Screenshots
    Here are some screenshots of how the units look ingame:

    Archers


    Chivalric Foot Knights


    Feudal Men-at-Arms


    Feudal Sergeants


    Halberdiers


    Militia Sergeants


    Pikemen


    Swiss Armoured Pikemen


    Swiss Pikemen


    Ancient units and interface
    Below you can download some of the remains of my Ancient mod. It has a work-in-progress interface, 2 castle pieces, a few building icons and 6 unitbifs (Greek Hoplite and Cavalry, Spartan Hoplite, Skirmisher, Macedonian Infantry and Cavalry).
    This package is not meant for non-modders as it needs alot editing to make it work. If you want to use it, you should seek out any entries that start with ANCIENT and copy them to your own modding files.

    Note on scale of the models
    I used smaller renderings to put more animations into the BIFs. To avoid smaller units ingame you need to set Scale (column 24) to 140 for the ancient infantry units. Keep the cavalry units the same scale as normal MTW units.

    Have fun with it

    Download here
    WinRAR required.

    Cheers, Duke John :cheers:
    Last edited by drone; 07-22-2014 at 20:22. Reason: updated link for tools

  2. #2
    Member Member komninos's Avatar
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    Hi Duke John,

    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] ]I'm drawing the skins by hand, so it would require some time if they need to be changed drastically. But I have now a good basis for Greek units so it will go relatively quickly. If you can provide me pictures that will certainly help since I'm not really an expert on ancient soldiers and their equipment.
    OK I understand ... I am all ready in thruble with the miss...
    Now I get most of my pictures from www.dbaol.com they have a fine selection. Not that they are 100% OK but they still give you an idea what to do. I will put some links at the end of this post.

    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] ]I was planning to make a mod myself centered around Greece and Turkey. It would see the traditional battles between Hoplites, but also the need of change because of the battles against skirmishers and cavalry. You can also replay the battles between Persia and Macedonia. A slightly larger scope instead of only Greece (no offense meant).
    Hmmm... no no no no no
    First no offense taken ... but ... Greece vs Turkey is no go unless you plan on doing a 1821 mod on my map. That was the Geek rebelion and practicaly lasted till 1922 with small periods of peace. A nice what-if though would be to pit the Hellenistic and late Hellenistic armies Vs the Medival ones.

    The second though will be the next update to the HTW that I plan. It will start with the Persian wars and end up with the rise of Macedon ... just one though how I will build a 2.000.000 men army and then bit it in MTW?????

    Because the map does not allow me to do the Campaigne of Alexander I will do just a fraction of it. The third update to the HTW will go back in time to the Mycineans ... but that is a will see. I have an other map on the works

    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] ]
    - Athenian
    - Spartan
    - Persian
    - Macedonian
    NO once more ... the Hoplites were very similar ... Spartans need something different. The later Athenean and Macedonian used a lighter armor and helmet (Thracian vs the Corinthian used till then) but this was after the Persian wars.

    Quote Originally Posted by [b
    Quote[/b] ]I will be first concentrating my units around these factions (used in my mod), but I will send you the BIFs as they get done. If you think that a BIF can be easily adjusted so that you have slightly different version than let it know. Small changes are easily done; for example changing the linnen/leather cuirass of the hoplite with a metal one
    OK then whan I plan is not problem we can work together on the persian war ... this will save alot of time ... trust me.

    To get a good looking hoplite line up for HTW and what ever anyone is building would be this.

    1. Early hoplites (check the spears unit)
    2. The Proclassical would be as you have them but with a metal (bronze) armor.
    3. Calassical as you have them with the Startans on a different image.
    4. Later for the Athenean and Macedonian units
    5. Northern barbarian (Illirian, Thrasian, Paeonian), Ekdromos and Hyspasis like this (check the spears unit)
    ========================================================
    Eastern units are different.
    i.e.
    Lydian
    Persian
    =========================================================
    I hope this helps ... Not much of a difference in the Spear units but on the battle field ... there is a lot.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Senior Member Wellington's Avatar
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    Very nice.

    A nice site that can be used as a basic guide for Ancient armies (both composition, and uniform/weapons) is -

    //www.dbaol.com/armies.htm

    Check the Hellenistic Greek, for example, or the Early Spartan. Some nice Persian pic's as well.

    May be useful.

    This site is also quite nice -

    http://fanaticus.org/DBA/armiesofthefanatici/

    Painted 15mm Ancient armies (quite a few nice Greek armies).




  4. #4
    Member Member Omegamann's Avatar
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    Great units graphics Duke John.
    You are realy drawing them by hand?
    From the quality I would have guessed you used a 3D applikation (like Poser) to create the unit and export the animation frames.

    Btw. good source material:
    28mm Miniatures:
    http://www.wargamesfoundry.com
    1:72 Plastics
    http://www.hat.com/

    Hope you and komninos keep up the good work

  5. #5
    Member Member komninos's Avatar
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    For othere games that needed 3D graphics (Homeworld) I have found that a simple and very efficient 3D editor is the Rhino now at version 3.

    You can download it from there cite http://www.rhino3d.com/.

    It lets you save 25 time as a trial period ... then asks you for $900.
    ==========================================================
    Duke John,

    No I don't think there is a need to change the Peltast we will need this unit for other Light Units too I will duild a shield for them to test them as Ekdromos. ... Do they have the Hoplites attack mosion??

    BTW.
    ------
    The shields look a bit small so I used Wellingtons program to increase there radius by 20% now they are OK.




  6. #6
    Member Member Omegamann's Avatar
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    Other 3D-Tools frequently used in modding 3D Games:

    GMax(A 3ds MAX Light Version)
    http://www.discreet.com/products/gmax/

    And Milkshapehttp://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ms3d/index.html

    I havent worked with either of them but they are pretty standart for creating and animating moddels for Engines like Half Life, Quake, Unreal even Neverwinter Nights.

    Hopefully your Lightwave Anims can be imported into Poser, as I have thought about creating some Fantasy Units since RSW first came up with the bif editor for STW.
    Models Weapons and Armor where never the problem, because these are readily available online, but until now creating the animation was my main problem, so Im very happy to finaly have someone with 3D know how in the community.

  7. #7
    Member Member Metal Storm's Avatar
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    WOW DJ I knew you were making new units but this is the first time I looked at this post MOST EXCELLENT WORK I just started to make some motions with a 3d model myself. I'm assuming you made the skeletal motions and then just add different bodyparts with different skins right? I figured I should make all the motions first with generic body&skin then make the good skin and body parts.
    Regardless I just have to complement you on your units. They ARE just AWESOME Do you do 3D modeling for a living or just a hobby? You should get paid for it Nice work, REALLY nice work

  8. #8
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    Thanks for the comments

    I have made 2 or 3 models that were badly constructed, those were the first Uruk-Hai models. But I've learned alot, with some sketches beforehand and research on the internet for reference material on armour and equipment ensures a realistic looking model. Being a bit of a perfectionist keeps me adjusting the models till I like them. And it seems that you do too.

    Modelling is not my living, I did some 3D building designing for my study, but I learned modelling specifically for making new units for MTW and only picked up the stuff that was needed for this. With the right attitude and eagerness to learn you will get far.

    Cheers, Duke John

  9. #9
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    Hello everybody,

    Ancient units and interface
    My own ancient mod wasn't very appreciated, so I stopped developing it. Below you can download some of its remains. It has a work-in-progress interface, 2 castle pieces, a few building icons and 6 unitbifs (Greek Hoplite and Cavalry, Spartan Hoplite, Skirmisher, Macedonian Infantry and Cavalry).
    This package is not meant for non-modders as it needs alot editing to make it work. If you want to use it, you should seek out any entries that start with ANCIENT and copy them to your own modding files.

    Have fun with it

    Download here
    WinRAR required.

    Note on scale of the models
    I used smaller renderings to put more animations into the BIFs. To avoid smaller units ingame you need to set Scale (column 24) to 140 for the ancient infantry units. Keep the cavalry units the same scale as normal MTW units.

    Cheers, Duke John

  10. #10
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    just read the first post.
    I was planning to upload the file today. But it seems that I lost the files...

    This will set the release a bit back, since I need to recover them from a backup and collect all the files again.

    Just to stay ahead of any questions. No, I will not put more time into these units. The weapons and shields are not 100% correctly positioned, but since these models are quite old I can not be bothered. While everybody will be able to use the pack, its contents are mainly for modders who to "spice" up their campaign.
    The units were lying around on my Harddisk (or not anymore , damn my 10GB harddisk that forces me to clean up space), and they might be interesting for others to use. So here they are (aargh, not yet, and damn my organisation of files... who wants to donate me a larger harddisk )

    Well, so watch this thread if you want some new unitgraphics to breath life into your battles.

    Cheers, Duke John




  11. #11
    Member Member Nomad's Avatar
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    Cool


    Was wondering if you used lightwave, 3dsmax or ...??? to create the new Medieval units. Just about to get jiggy with the animation side of things. As I have 3DsMax, plus can get any animation progs For free.

    Nomad
    Do not despise the snake for having no horns,
    For who is to say, he will not become a Dragon.

  12. #12
    Scruffy Looking Nerf Herder Member Steppe Merc's Avatar
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    I guess you'd use the Viking Invasion Map... or would you make a new one? Either way, it looks really cool. Keep up the good work.

    "But if you should fall you fall alone,
    If you should stand then who's to guide you?
    If I knew the way I would take you home."
    Grateful Dead, "Ripple"

  13. #13
    Member Member jbluvchild's Avatar
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    quick question are there unit restrictions when creating units from scratch example: im sure that all the soldiers are the same size hwo ever are they restricted to that size? could like say a untit maybe a Giant take the place as a trebuche' ? can the unit sizes vary basically?

  14. #14
    Member Member jbluvchild's Avatar
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    any body know? it would be real helpfull for my mod im about to attempt , i am wondering if any body has tested the individual unit siz limitations

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    Member Member Sir Zack de Caldicot's Avatar
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    Do you mean the height (scale ) of the unit or unit size.
    Hopefully you have Gnome Editor (recommended).

    For height you find the line Unit height or something like that, edit. However, once you reach a certain height your unit will turn invisible , Not sure at which height though.

    Unit size: Find this heading and Edit. The maximum unit size is 100, however that can be changed in-game with the Army setting sizes (change to large)

    They are making trolls in METW, balrogs in Simerillion (spelling?)Total War, chariots in HTW, and War elephants (eventually) in Metal Storms Rome mod (which still needs to be released, although before RTW would be nice )

    Hope I could help,
    SZDC
    I WANT ROME - TOTAL WAR

  16. #16
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    Lightbulb

    *** Duke John's Unitgraphics Pack available for download***
    I uploaded a pack that contains 8 new unitgraphics that will freshen up your M:TW game or that can be used for own modding delights Hidden in the folders (CUSTOM3) is also a new BIF that can be used for Burgundian Pikes and Militia. The BIFs are bit outdated as my modelling skills have vastly improved ( ), however I thought that some of you might be interested in using the unitgraphics. If you happen to like them, then make sure to look out for my Wars of the Roses mod which will contain 10 new BIFs for historical depiction of the forces that fought.

    Read the notes in the first post before downloading The pack is made for M:TW VI, language version does not matter.

    Have fun

    Cheers, Duke John

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  18. #18
    Member Member Nomad's Avatar
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    You Beauty,
    You certainly know how to keep us in suspence.
    Downloading these little gems now. Excellant stuff DJ bring on WofTR.
    Do not despise the snake for having no horns,
    For who is to say, he will not become a Dragon.

  19. #19
    For England and St.George Senior Member ShadesWolf's Avatar
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    These are excellent Duke John thanks alot mate.

    If you have no objections I will use them in my 100 years war mod
    ShadesWolf
    The Original HHHHHOWLLLLLLLLLLLLER

    Im a Wolves fan, get me out of here......


  20. #20
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    Thumbs up

    Shadeswolf
    Go ahead But I am still planning to make 15century models that will also suit your HYW campaign. In the meantime have fun with these

    By the way, I have found a method to play with less than 8 factions in a campaign. By not including SetStartLeader, SetHeir and PlaceLeader the faction will die out after the first turn. Providing that they a province where there is at least 1 unit.
    This way I only have 2 factions in my WotR campaign. The only downside is that the died out factions will sometimes reappear, but that is not much of a problem in my WotR campaign as there were several uprisings of barons who thought they had more right for the throne of England.
    Perhaps this might be usefull for you too as the HYW was primarily a war between England and France.

    Cheers, Duke John

  21. #21
    For England and St.George Senior Member ShadesWolf's Avatar
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    It is a possible idea, I will keep it in mind

    Thanks mate, this will be a good start, as it will allow for the same units (in name) to have a different look in certain factions, ie the unique Burgundian units....



    ShadesWolf
    The Original HHHHHOWLLLLLLLLLLLLER

    Im a Wolves fan, get me out of here......


  22. #22
    Keeper of Glyphs Member [DnC]'s Avatar
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    I really like your new unit graphics (hadn't tried it out ingame) At the moment I'm using your bifs for Feudal Men-At-Arms and Swiss Armoured Pikemen. I especially like your SAP graphics Amazing

  23. #23

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    This doesnt work for me :(

    the graphics seem bugged.
    the soldiers walk half in the hills and from most perspectives I cannot see them at all :(

    I have a German language version of MTW+VI and patch 2.01

  24. #24
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    Question

    Fanty
    Could you tell me which units are displayed wrong? I can hardly imagine that they are all wrong as it seems from your post. I will fix it soon as possible then.

    Thanks, Duke John

  25. #25

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    I will check it out again later.
    Right now I need to prepare myself to go to work.

    Hmm.
    Maybe I did soemthing wrong? I put it into my "men" folder in "Textures". Was that right?

  26. #26

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    Your suppose to put unzip it in your MTW directory =P

  27. #27
    Member Member Ypoknons's Avatar
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    Well about the units' problems:

    1) The vikings_unit_prod.txt file is the old one, so then the archers, miltia sergents and gallowglasses in VI use the old bifs with the new animations.

    2) In the crusaders_unit_prod.txt, the militia sergents are still using the old bifs (ms_helm rather than custom4) as well :).

    It's pretty easy to fix yourself though if you have GNOME or edit your prod.txt another way. I do not current have time to do it myself though beacuse of schoolwork...

  28. #28
    Member Member SpetzNatz's Avatar
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    Duke John.
    May I ask you for some favour? I like your units and I want to learn 3D moddeling, could you tell me what tool do you use for it, and send me some sample units to open and test it? I'm totally confused (as everyone who is trying something new) and it could really help. Thank you. And my e-mail is: v.pelcak@post.cz

  29. #29

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    as SpetzNatz said i would like to no how you make such great graphics they are brilliant and i would like to no what you use and tips on making graphics i have fireworks (its like paintshop pro) but im just not sure on how to make great graphics like yours

  30. #30
    Senior Member Senior Member Duke John's Avatar
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    You will need a 3D Modeller program. There are many programs that you can use: 3D Studio (I believe CA used it), Lightwave (which I use), Maya (I believe Hoggy from METW uses this), Poser (flip uses it) and more, even free ones. So there are no definite answer to this. Then find tutorials on the internet. Also read my guide in the Repository.

    But you do need a program and you do need to spend alot time learning to use the program and how to model units. Starting now is perhaps not that profiteable seeing that RTW is coming closer and it will take you a few months to get decent looking units. But if you are stubborn then who can stop you?

    Because I can only spend so much on MTW my help doesn't go further then saying this and writing the guides. I leave the rest up to you and your steadfastness to continue.

    Good luck, Duke John

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