Arthurian Era Mod for VI?

[Iustinus]

I basically took Oldnfaded's mod and fixed it up so there would be (probably) no ctd's. I used the most current version of Fall of Rome- check the threads for it for a link for the download.
I added night battles as well as cut in half unit sizes to give it a more dark age raiding party feel. I also added battering rams,(thanks HTW) took away mangonels, and added a few new units I'm still working on (Welsh/Briton warriors, Slingers, and the old Celtic Warriors- now perhaps as mercenaries.)
I made a music pack to go with it- different music for the Saxons, Briton groups, and Gaelic groups respectively, and put in British bird sounds. The picture of the crumbled highland fortress I made myself, along with about ten other maps.
It's going to be very difficult to get this out to people (the graphics for the night mod take up a lot of space!) but I have a few things to fix, and have to put in a load screen and title picture, and then hopefully we can get it out to download. Right now I'm going away for a few days, I won't have access to a computer, but if anybody has any new ideas, let's get this mod perfected!
Thanks!
Justin

[CountMRVHS]

Wow! That sounds awesome!

I'll try downloading the latest Fall of Rome version so we can be on the same page. Hopefully my internet connection can handle it...

It's hard for me to think of any ideas for things without knowing what's already in place, but it sounds like you've got a practically workable version right now. I wonder, is there a way to upload everything apart from the night battles aspect, so it would be easier to get out to people? And then maybe attach the night battles as some sort of patch? I'm not sure how any of that works though.

If there is anything specific you'd need/want help on, let me know as I've been thinking about this for quite some time. I really look forward to seeing a downloadable version of this!!

CountMRVHS

[Iustinus]

Hey CountMRVHS,
Yep, that's what I'm doing at the moment. Right now I'm trying to get together everything needed for the mod so that it can get sent to people. I probably am going to need to reinstall and test this seperately as I have added many things that I can not send out yet. As a patch I'm going to send the music pack and night/enviro sfx pack seperately. In the future I will be checking out other King Arthur mods and adding to this.
Now I have an idea and I want to see what everyone thinks of it. For this mod, we have as an extra unit sound effect the camel sound. This was taken advantage of in Middle Earth TW for the Wargs and in my own personal HTW expansion for the Elephants. I have used this to some success for seperate infantry sfx (the problem is they get the camel and cavalry penalties and bonuses.)
So, should we give King Arthurs cavalry a charge/warcry unique from other cavalry (with the added 'causes fear to cavalry' bonus?)
Or, use it for something else or nothing at all.
Laus Deo,
Justin

[CountMRVHS]

Yes, that makes the most sense to me: give it to Arthur's cav.

Although, your mention of Wargs made me think of something else. I have also read Bernard Cornwell's Warlord series, and remember how the Saxons occasionally used wardogs in those books. Now, I have NO idea how to make units from scratch, as I haven't done any modelling or graphics alterations, but maybe that's something to consider for a later edition. Maybe, if the Wargs already exist though, we could use them... But it depends on what you think about wardogs as a historical unit.

If that would cause a lot of headaches, though, I'd say it would be better to keep it simple for right now.

Anyway, this sounds great. Keep us posted!

CountMRVHS

[Iustinus]

It's funny but I had already done that messing around- I used the wargs (after shrinking them a bit) and gave them some sfx. I put three in a unit, and they would be useful for scouting and chasing down enemies, and not much else, besides being a shock to cavalry.
I don't know how historically accurate this would be, but it is an interesting idea.
Justin

[Iustinus]

I don't see any reason why everyone would have to download a huge mod like Fall of Rome for this one. I'm going to try to get it so it can be used with out Fall of Rome.
So far I have not seen one ctd in the game. However, I'm not going to test it for hours and hours and hours so for balance and those things, I'll leave this to everybody who plays the mod, and then later I or somebody else can release a patch if needed. I am almost done with the Load screen and all that stuff, and only have to fix a few units (and get it prepared so you don't need Fall of Rome.)
I should be done by tonight- the only problem is I have no idea where I'm going to upload it to.
Thanks!
Justin

[CountMRVHS]

Excellent!

Do you have a rough idea of the size of this mod? *hoping my computer will actually be able to download it*

A strange thing I noticed was that Oldnfaded's mod was larger than the Fall of Rome mod... it was like 39MB to FoR's 20something IIRC. Seemed odd.

[Iustinus]

I didn't think about it- but it's true- although Fall of Rome has more to download the Arthur mod has a new map which takes up more then 50 mb.
However, I can make all tgas smaller and so people will only have to save them as a tga to get the game to work. That way, the game will be way less then the 105 mbs it is now.
The music I'm going to put seperately is about 120 mb as mp3's, people will need to convert the sounds to wav. The ground and sky textures take up 76 mb and the sfx- I'm guessing less then twenty. So, the full mod will be about 300 (!) mbs, if you include the music and night mod.
I hope this works out! I know it's going to be tough to get it out.
Justin

[Taiko]

Just came in to check out what's going on. Wow, Iustinus this mod sounds great! I really am looking forward to it. I wish I could offer any help, but I really have no experience at all in modding. However, if there's anything I could help with count me in. Do you know where your going to upload it at? Thanks for all the hard work! Looking forward to playing.

[Iustinus]

Hey all,
I'm finished with the mod, I put it over a fresh install of MTW VI and everything seemed to work fine. Custom battles worked perfectly, and the campaign map loads but then suddenly ctd's if you right click anything. This doesn't happen where I had previously installed it. Does anyone know what could be causing this? I am pretty experienced with fixing ctds and I can not figure this one out right now.
If anyone knows where I can upload this or how let me know. (with the ground and sky graphics, sfx and music pack, it could take up a couple hundred mbs!!) Also, if anyone knows how I can make an installer for this let me know, as I think this would make it much easier for people.
Here are the new units I've added (I don't know how historically accurate they are:)
Slingers
The old Celtic warriors, now as mercenaries
Scouts
Battering Ram
Briton warriors (armed with powerful, short range bows and can hide anywhere)
Highland Peasants (can only be recruited in the Highlands, like other peasants but with a greater charge and shirtless)

I hope to add a couple new units for the Saxons and Jutes in the future.
If anyone has any ideas let me know, but I'm going to be very, very busy in the next few months and may not get to work on this for a very long time.
Oh, also, I created a new special cavalry sound effect for King Arthurs cavalry, and it's working out great.
Thanks!
Justin

[barocca]

try putting one of your old startpos files in it and see if the righlt click crashes anything then,

if no crash then an error has crept into the startpos file

B.

[Iustinus]

Ok. The mod is finished (until there are new ideas for it!)
I will be putting the mod itself and the music pack seperate. There will be two startpos files, one for those who have the music and night mod and one for those who don't. However, I'll let everyone figure that out later on (not that there's much to figure out.)
I will probably be uploading it to 3D downloads, and shall post a link once that is done (hopefully today.)
Thanks!
Justin

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Iustinus are you adding new sound effects or replacing old ones?

[Iustinus]

I'll be replacing old ones- all of the camel sfx get replaced for King Arthur's cavalry, most of the bird sound effects get replaced for a more realistic sound, both for night and day.
I think it's impossible to create new sound effects for the game, I guess it's hardcoded just like you can't have more then 250 units for one unitprod file or deadpage coords.
The weather is hardcoded too, this is why arid works out best for night. Desert doesn't allow too many trees, and there's sandstorms and no mist.
Justin

[CountMRVHS]

Great news!

Can't wait to try it out. Hope the ol' dialup can handle it all... *crosses fingers*

[Taiko]

Excellent! (Does Mr. Burns impression) Can't wait!

[Iustinus]

Hey everyone!
It's going to be a few days till we can get this uploaded, but that's ok cause I'm probably going to be away the next four-five days so I won't be able to do it anyway. I also found one big problem in the mod but it is fixed now and so far it seems to be working and running perfectly. So, sorry about getting anyones hopes up. Soon enough it will be up. Then we should create a multiplayer thread.
Thanks!
Justin

[Iustinus]

The mod for now is finished!
Download it here:

http://tosainu.demon.nl/files/AutoIn...otal%20War.exe

The music pack is still uploading, so I'll give a link in a few days. But don't download it now.
Information is in the readme. There's is one thing I may have failed to mention- make sure that you delete all portrait files located in campmap\portraits. I have found (twice) that if you don't the campaign will fail to locate the pictures for the Druids and Bishops.
Errors to fix in a future patch:
Several flags and shields. If I remember correctly, I had Gwent using the old Mercian shield. Don't mind that this Briton faction's symbol has the white dragon on it!

Thanks!
Justin

[Pericles]

Congratulations!

What is the size of the download?

[Riothamus]

I'm dl right now it says 75.6

[Taiko]

Woot!!
Only 1 hour and 8 minutes until I can load this baby up.
Thanks for all the hard work Iustinus! Looking forward to playing.

[CountMRVHS]

1 hour and 8 minutes....

Damn you people with nice fast computers!

I gave up yesterday morning when I saw that I had over TEN hours left to go. And even if I had stayed on and let it do its thing, it most likely would have died on me in the middle of it.

I wonder Iustinus, is there any other way to get this mod? What if, say, I was to send you some $$$ to put it on a CD and mail it to me? I have no idea if that would work, I'm just throwing it out there.

I'm worried I won't be able to get it as is with the fickleness of my internet system. Should I try Netscape instead of IE?

CountMRVHS

[Iustinus]

Hey everybody
I'm not home right now so I won't be able to do anything to this mod for a couple days.....
On people having trouble with the download, if we can't figure out a way to get this to you then the cd idea is possible. For now, here's the link for the music pack: (this is very large)

http://tosainu.demon.nl/files/AutoIn...sic%20Pack.zip

Thanks for your patience! Let me know any other problems.
Laus Deo,
Justin

[Riothamus]

very nice work Iustinus, and it does have a dark age feel from the art work displayed.

[CountMRVHS]

Anyone kind enough to post some screenshots for a poor ol' sap with dialup? I think I will give this a go later in the week, but I'm not holding out high hopes... it sounds awesome though

[Riothamus]

CountMRVHS,

[Riothamus]

LOL I hit the send button by accident. How to do a screenshot? I'll try to do this for you if I can learn.

[Taiko]

This is one great mod! Great job! I love the new battle maps (at least they look new to me...haven't played MTW in a while). Music is perfect and well worth the download (good thing I still have my converter from Napoleon Total War). Splash screens, unit cards, new map, flags all look great! Lot's of high ranking generals and I think I've been getting weak playing RTW because Arthur got his lunch handed to him from some 3 star rebel. Oh well, I guess I've got to learn to fight again. Excellent, excellent job! I can't thank you enough for putting this together Iustinus! Can you tell I'm hyped?

[Iustinus]

Thanks!
A couple battle maps had errors I have to fix, but otherwise they were all set.
What do people who have played the mod think of the small unit sizes? To me it adds an extra challenge, particularly since I am used to playing HTW with normal units over 100. You have to be much more careful against ranged units, about being flanked, and with your generals.
Also, I think I forgot to add a dying sound for the armored cavalry, I'll release a patch soon that fixes any errors people find.
Again, thanks to everyone who downloaded this, have a great time.
Justin

[Iustinus]

Riathamus
I'm still a newbie to using the forums but what I did when posting screenshots was to use whe website imagedump, and post the links to the pictures here.
I'll try to post some soon.
Thanks
Justin