Unit Screenshots

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Hello everyone!

This thread is dedicated to the the Unit changes/New unit implementation/3d and 2d unit graphics sub-forum.

For those working on this group, start posting your info here, instead of the general EB MOD thread.

EDIT: This thread has been renamed Unit Screenshots because all other info regarding unit implementation has been moved to the restricted thread.

[SaFe]

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The Germanic faction:
Some details for the modders to build up some interesting and historical units.

THE GERMANIC FACTION



Sahsnotas ("Swordbondsmen") : (Medium Infantry / Sword Warband)

Rome Total War Unit Abilities:Warcry, Expert at hiding in woods, may charge without orders, Combat bonus in woods and snow, Good morale.
Appearance:
long flowing hair without plaits and preferential without the suebian knot, germanic full beard, cloak, trousers in faction colour,
round shield with symbol of a white horse or germanic runes, Spatha-Sax , a long Cutting Sword.

These adept Germanic Swordfighters were known for their abilities with the sax, the saxon sword that gave this tribe its name.

They can be raised in the province Tribus Saxones.


Chatti Fanatics : (Light Infantry)

Rome Total War Unit Abilities:Warcry, Expert at hiding in woods, Excellent Morale, may charge without orders, Combat Bonus in woods and snow.
Appearance:
long flowing hair, but without plaits or the celtic spiked haircut, germanic fullbeard, naked chest, trousers in faction colour, round or hexagonal long shield and a spear or axe.

The Chatti, which means "the Distinguished" was a turbulent tribe that often clashed with the romans and fought decades against the Hermunduri, a rome-friendly tribe.
It was common for their young warriors not to shave their beards or cut their hair until they killed their first opponent in a battle.
After doing this, they often inflict some ritual scars on their own skin over the body of their fallen enemy to praise their gods.

They can be raised in the province Tribus Chattii.


Germanic Framaemen : (Light Infantry)

Rome Total War Unit Abilities:
Warcry, Expert at hiding in woods, Combat Bonus in woods and snow, Combat Bonus vs. Cavalry, may charge without orders.
Appearance:
The appearance of the Germanic SpearWarband fits well. Preferable would be some kind of cloak over their bare chest.
The Framaemen are the bulk of any germanic force. Their weapon, the framae was a spear with a short sharp ending, ideal for thrusting and throwing. They can work in close or open formation and are trained to form shield walls if necessary. They can throw or thrust with their spears which are suitable for melee as well as missile combat.
They should be a mix of the Spear Warband combined with the Skirmisher Warband.They can be raised all over Germania.


More to follow...
P.S.
Aymar, i hope this is the correct forum and the skinners and modders take a look at the information.

[The samnite]

Ok, here's a new model for the dacian spearband. This is my first texture/model change so I hope you guys will cut me some slack.



Hopefully it is obvious that the two miniatures in the top left are the inspiration for the unit. (Thanks to Stormy for those pics)

I'm planning on adding the crossover strap as soon as I can figure out how to use unwrap UVW in 3DS Max

The stripe pattern was intended to look like wool, which is why it's a bit jaggy. I'm thinking I should just make them more straight like the model.

Any suggestions or general texturing tips are very welcome!

[PSYCHO V]

Ok, here's a new model for the dacian spearband. This is my first texture/model change so I hope you guys will cut me some slack.

Any suggestions or general texturing tips are very welcome!

WOW! Brilliant stuff samnite! I'd prob make the cap stick up / forward a little more just to be more conspicious...and maybe the beard stick out a bit more. Other than that, it's looking pretty good mate!

[Meneldil]

Huh, this skin is just awesome

[Dead Moroz]

Holy shit! That's a fu... nice!

Don't worry about stripes - they are exactly what they should be. But I think that shield should be more saturated.

Can you post bigger screens, please?

[Colovion]

that's awesome!

yeah bigger screens would be nice

[The samnite]

Okay, some bigger screens



Thanks for the help guys. I'm working right now on your suggestions.

[PSYCHO V]

Can I just add my 2 bob and encourage everyone not to get too carried away with anachronistic units / suggestions. Saxon swordsman, Vandals, Franks, Goths, Hittites, Philistines, Assyrians etc etc either didn't exist in this period or were not a force worthy of note. Although there are many cool things we'd all like to see, the point of EB to add historical reality (and great gameplay), not further water it down.

Khelven, I'll have some Gaul stats for you in a week. Anyone know how I view / edit the texture square / pallette / DDS thingy in 3D max for any given CAS?

Haven't heard from Verci recently and it seems recon has dropped off the planet.

Going to be away myself for week of R&R with the wife.


See yall when I get back.

[The samnite]

Here's version 2 of my dacian spear unit.



Changes include a more conspicious hat (up and out), fuller beard, changed shield colour a bit, and made the belt thinner.

Keep the suggestions coming!

One thing I haven't brought into account is the faction colours, as there currently are none on my skin. Are we planning on doing faction colours for this mod? They aren't 'historically accurate' and we still have the unit flags to distinguish units. If we reskin all the identical units to their specific factions we won't have to worry about that either. Any thoughts?

@PSYCHO V: Do you mean the texture coordinates (what part of the model gets what part of the texture file)? If so that's the unwrap UVW modifier (you have to add it, then collapse it into the mesh (not the skin) when you've finished editing. Click on the edit button in the rollout to see where the vertex's are. I haven't a clue how to change things and stitch stuff together so don't ask me.

[Stormy]

Wow
GREAT JOB !! The samnite
I remember posting these figurines pics in the main EB thread and I was thinking to myself, I really wish to see these units dressed like the figures in game..

SAMNITE you really knocked them out Fantastic Job lad

[SaFe]

I agree with Psycho on his remarks with vandals, franks and goths, but not with the saxon swordsmen.
Their weapon, the sax came in many different lenghts.
While the goths, alemanni, franks, etc. appaered later, the saxons fit well.
Not 270BC, but surely in the timeframe the game covers.

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Ok, here's a new model for the dacian spearband. This is my first texture/model change so I hope you guys will cut me some slack.

Glad to see that you have a sense of humor. Ironic none the less...



It's an awesome work!!!

[sharrukin]

This should be an image. I hope!

[Stormy]

Haha , sharrukin you will need a host from somewhere on the net to host your photos.

One of many hosts

[sharrukin]

Hey Stormy glad I'm provideing some amusement for you. And thanks for the link! Once more unto the breach. Uh...wait. in case it doesn't here's the link.

[Stormy]

I see the pics now and Excellent photos.

[sharrukin]

I see the pics now and Excellent photos.

It's all thanks to you!
I uploaded some other images onto the link you provided. How would I direct someone to take a look, pick and choose if there of any use? I don't want to crowd the forum with a lot of pictures that not be useful.

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

It's all thanks to you! I uploaded some other images onto the link you provided. How would I direct someone to take a look, pick and choose if there of any use? I don't want to crowd the forum with a lot of pictures that not be useful.

Just post the links. For that you need:

Press the "Hyperlink" button in your post, then you're asked to insert a name for the link you want to show, then for the web adress itself were the pic is located. That's all.

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

A doubt to be clarified by the guys working on the units with 3DS MAX. I'm editing the meshes of some Iberian units and I'm unable to modify the shield shape. The soldier itself is easy, no problem. But the shield and weapon manipulation elude me. They have no defined faces, vertexes or points. How did reconspy change the shape of the Arveni Arjos's shield?

Thanks in advance...

[sharrukin]

One of the units that should be removed is the Onager. It doesn't seem to show up until the very end of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD. It could be replaced by the Scorpion which was essentially a Ballista that threw rocks instead of Javelins. Some of the Greek siege engines based on the Ballista got pretty big so it shouldn't cause any game inbalance.

"Onager; The torsion spring of the onager is arranged horizontally. The weapon imitates the staff sling, a particular type of hand sling for throwing small stones. The one-armed stone-thrower comes quite late in Antiquity. The first one to describe the onager was Ammianus Marcellinus in mid-forth century AD (Ammianus XXIII 4.4-7). In the Republican period and in the early Imperial period the Roman army was not equipped with such a type of catapult"

http://home.t-online.de/home/d.baatz/catapult.htm

[sharrukin]

Links to some siege equipment.

[Dead Moroz]

Great work, The samnite !

But think you should make lines on shield smoother - they looks too unrealistic now.
And draw attention on this little glitch (maybe you already fixed it?):

[sharrukin]

Would it be possible to enlarge a Ballista and remove any trace of a spear on it? This would work well as a replacement for the Onager.

Also could the arc of the boulder be made more linear like the Ballista's spear?

[The samnite]

My second unit now, a dacian archer.


Based off of another of Stormy's pics:


I basically just tweaked here and there from the spearman model as the miniatures were fairly similar. I added the belt and strap, but the texture for it is hard to do and needs some more work. I've encountered difficulties in lining up the different level models so the units farther away might seem a bit different than the close up ones.

As always, suggest ways to make it better!

@Aymar de Bois Mauri: You've discovered one of the best ways to save on polygons! Anything round takes a lot of polys to make look good, so when something is flat (like a shield, weapons) you can make it round (or whatever) using transparency settings. Check the alpha channel in the texture you are working on. The black areas are rendered transparent by the game engine and therefore the shape of the object can be changed. It has nothing to do with 3DS Max. This is also how they get feathers/arrows to appear without using a ton of polys.

@Dead Moroz: Thanks for catching that glitch. I made the beard a bit weird so I'll go over that again. As for the shield, do you mean the outside line or the inside?

[Stormy]

Wow! once again @ The samnite

Fantastic work my friend.

You and many others here are making this game more authentic by the minute. This mod will be what I always been waiting for in a RTS game. Thank you.

[The samnite]

Thanks Stormy!

Those miniature pics you found were great. Since they were already in 3D I basically just had to match up colours and patterns.

[Dead Moroz]

Nice work again, The samnite! I like their faces!

But think you should make lines on dress more wavering as they are on spearmen.
And make something with these fragments:

@Dead Moroz: Thanks for catching that glitch. I made the beard a bit weird so I'll go over that again. As for the shield, do you mean the outside line or the inside?

I mean these:

[The samnite]

Ah yes, those lines do look bad. It's hard to get angles to look good, but I'll work on those things you noted today.

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

My second unit now, a dacian archer.

I basically just tweaked here and there from the spearman model as the miniatures were fairly similar. I added the belt and strap, but the texture for it is hard to do and needs some more work. I've encountered difficulties in lining up the different level models so the units farther away might seem a bit different than the close up ones.

As always, suggest ways to make it better!

Once again, excellent job!!!

My only complain is that they look a bit stare-eyed. Maybe closing the eyes a bit would get rid of that impression?

@Aymar de Bois Mauri: You've discovered one of the best ways to save on polygons! Anything round takes a lot of polys to make look good,

Yes, I know. That is why organic modelling is so intensive CPU/GPU wise. Takes a lot of polygons to improve shape. Although the trick is to make the mesh the most efficient possible.

so when something is flat (like a shield, weapons) you can make it round (or whatever) using transparency settings. Check the alpha channel in the texture you are working on. The black areas are rendered transparent by the game engine and therefore the shape of the object can be changed. It has nothing to do with 3DS Max. This is also how they get feathers/arrows to appear without using a ton of polys.

OK. I didn't knew that reconspy had worked with the transparency allowed by the Alpha channel. But my problem is far different. I was remodeling the Naked Fanatics mesh to make them more like Stepped Merc's pic of the Gaesatae. Problem is: it's shield is wider in certain parts than the one of the Naked Fanatics. Therefore, the texture isn't wide enough to use the Alpha channel trick because the polygonal mesh isn't either. How do I get around that?