Modding News Roundup - 3 March - Hina Matsuri 'The Dolls Festival'
An irregular column to gather up some of the recent events of the Org modding community. Got news? A mod update? Recruiting for your team? Has your mod been overlooked? Send Epistolary Richard a PM to get items included next time or post it below.
The village of Borodino from Napoleonic Total War 2 ; Pontic phalanx from DarthMod ; Cannon from Ogniem i Mieczem ; Photo or mod? from Duke John's New Vegetation tutorial
Modding News Roundup
Some gladness and some sadness from February, the month of purification…
SPQR 6 & DarthMod 6.9 released
February saw not one but two full releases of updated major mods: SPQR 6 and Darthmod 6.9. These are amongst the first of the major mods to have made the transition from 1.2 to 1.5 and both reap the rewards of being able to include ‘BI’ features such as night battles. Hopefully this is a trend that we’ll see continue over the coming months. Remember, you can find help or posts words of experience in this thread.
Both mods emphasise improvements to gameplay – SPQR began with a focus on more, bigger, better battles, whilst at the core of Darthmod are innovative formation files designed to provide a greater challenge on the battlefield – though both have developed far beyond their initial concept.
More historical mods are also have fine representation in the release of the Rise of Persia Beta.
Welcome to the Jungle!
One of the most dramatic events in the Org modding world this month occurred on the normally peaceful Scriptorium. The instigator was none other than Duke John who unleashed an awe-inspiring tutorial about adding a near photo-realistic effect on RTW forests upon a sleepy RTW modding community.
This tutorial on creating new vegetation on the battlemap was written as part of the Lordz project Napoleonic Total War 2, but Duke John has said he will release his tutorial tree for use by others. Several other top modders have taken up the bit and already produced impressive results.
Another in-depth guide to the battlemap to hit the forums has been from HanBen of the Zhan Guo Mod team and breaks-down and explains the various components of settlement plans. This, combined with a tutorial from alpaca on Adding Battlemap Buildings to BI may well blow the doors off modding dynamic cities.
Editorial note
One of Duke John’s previous tutorials on Editing Battlemap Buildings helped provoke dramatic developments in several major mods resulting in the impressive cityscapes we can see today in Blue Lotus, Ran no Jidai and Zhan Guo, and this tutorial on vegetation looks like it may well have similar results. If you look behind many impressive modding features that we now take for granted, there is often a single well-written tutorial demonstrating how the technical feat may be accomplished, coupled with its adoption in practice by a major mod. Good tutorials can revolutionise RTW modding and benefit us all.
Historical Battle revival?
With a few notable exceptions the modding potential of historical battles has been largely overlooked since the early days of RTW modding as most mods have concentrated on developing full campaign mods. Increasingly, however, long-development mods feeling under pressure to get something out have made or are considering historical/custom battle releases. Historical battles, where landscapes, set-ups, intro sequences, even inter-battle events and victory conditions are all adaptable, can provide a unique challenge.
Fourth Age recently announced that their release would consist of several 'mini-campaigns' which may prove another effective precursor to a full release.
Viking Sunset?
Age of Vikings & Fanatics has released a pack of their work to date for others to use as the team are no longer confident that they will be able to complete the project. According to statements from the mod co-ordinator LegioXXXUlpiaVictrix this has been primarily the result of being unable of a lack of one or two additional skinners to supplement the one already with the team.
If there are any old fans of the project who’ve not looked in for a while or other skinners who would be willing to help out I do strongly encourage you to make yourselves known in their forum so that the time and effort that the team have already invested does not go to waste.
Bad News from Bwian
In further sad news, long-time Org modding member Bwian announced his retirement from active modding due to injuries received in a motorcycle accident. This unfortunately also is likely to mean the cancellation of his incredibly ambitious Metal Mayhem mod which promised to bring us a robot battle for dominance on a distant world.
Bwian has been has been a constant, friendly and helpful member of the Org modding forums and we’d like to take this opportunity to wish him the best for a complete and speedy recovery.
New Hosted Mod
The Org is proud to announce the worthy addition of The Crusades to the Hosted Mods Section.
You may have already seen some jaw-dropping screenshots from this mod in previous roundups and they are just the tip of the iceberg in this project by the formidable Caius Britannicus. Formerly, ace skinner/modeller and also a project director for Rome Total Realism, Caius' solo career is looking even more impressive. Read here for Caius' own introduction to this impressive project.
New on the Scriptorium
Tutorial: creating new vegetation for battlemaps from Duke John
Further Exploration in Settlement Layout in RTW from HanBen
Adding battlemap buildings to BI from alpaca
BrandonM’s descr_strat editor – Beta Release .001
Getting rid of boiling oil (at last!) from Dol Guldur
Multiple bodyguard units from Dol Guldur
How To… Add/Relocate/Delete Campaign Map Resources from Seasoned Alcoholic
Mods Released
For RTW 1.5
SPQR 6.0
lt1956's ongoing mod to improve RTW's gameplay - see here for a full list of changes and features
Darthmod 6.9
The 1.5 version of the revolutionary DarthMod.
For RTW 1.2
Rise of Persia - Beta
Attack rising Persia from the east with Pandya, trembling them with your mighty elephants, or strive for leadership over Hellas as one of the Hellenic factions, with your hoplites, or just conquer them all as Persia itself.
Imperator 1.2 – Roma mod for RTR 6 Gold
To optimise of the Roman faction (Senatus Populusque Romanus) in RTR Gold Edition.
Latest Mod Previews & updates on the Org
Ran no Jidai - STW Assassination Videos & new buildings
Europa Barbarorum - News Sunday, February 19
Citadel - latest screenshots
Blue Lotus - original artwork from TomteofDoom
Res Gestae – latest screenshots
Imperium TW update – 6th February 2006
Arthurian TW - the Kingdoms of Gwent & Powys & sneak peek
Hegemonia City-States
Faction Preview - Athens, Screenshots & Renders, Faction Preview - The Ionian Cities, Faction Preview - Corinth, Faction Preview - Kingdom of Macedon, Faction Preview - Boeotian League, Faction Preview - The City of Croton, Faction Preview - Etruria, Faction Preview - The Thracian Tribes
Napoleonic Total War - latest screenshots
Ogniem i Mieczem - latest screenshots
Vlad mod - latest screenshots
Some New Mods announced
Morrowind Total War
Based on the game of the same name
Mediterranean Total War
A 6th Century BC European mod
Realistic Terrain and Campaign Map Mod
Hegemonia City States
Focusing on Hellenic history before the hegemony of Thebes and Macedon
Oriental Total War
The New Dawn
A fantasy mod for BI
Character Traits Mod
End of Days
Paeninsula Italica - Radices Imperii
Covering the great struggles for supremacy in Italy in the timeframe 333BC - 222BC
Mod Recruitment
Modding in a team can be an awesome, exciting experience allowing its members to develop a mod far greater than the sum of those it could individually.
The brightest, most innovative mods today are being produced by teams of modders - each working and developing in their own specialities – even where a mod is particular brainchild of a solo modder, they will often want help in specific areas or through lack of time. Teams can be great places to learn skills from the masters of the field, get to know new people and make those vital contacts with modders who you can then interest in your own modding ideas.
If you're keen to work with any mod team just contact their leader and see if you can help out. Here are a sample of just of few of the mod teams that have been recruiting this last month.
Blue Lotus
In the same way as TW players gather in the mod threads and get excited about the modder’s work, Blue Lotus is where the modders go and get excited about the work of hoggy.
Blue Lotus is an original fantasy mod steeped in the mythology of the Far East. Drawing inspiration from legends, cinema, fiction and random imagination, hoggy has consistently delivered some of the most awe-inspiring visuals of any mod to date.
The factions represented are drawn from across China, Japan, Korea and India with special Demon and Monk factions, which all inhabit a land across which the forces of dark and light clash in their endless struggle.
In steady development for over a year, hoggy has formed a small mod team in order to help deliver the complete campaign. It’s hoped to have its first release later this year.
Zulu Total War
Shaka Zulu – the ‘Black Napoleon’ of southern Africa – took a handful of warriors from the insignificant Zulu tribe and carved out a mighty nation which would ultimately go on the challenge the powerful British Empire at the height of its imperialism. It’s a classic RTW story and the worthy focus of this total conversion mod lead by Sundjata Keita and Harlechman.
Zulu Total War is currently progressing towards an initial release of custom/historical battles but work continues apace on a full campaign. If you’re interested in joining this dedicated and friendly team just drop a PM to Sundjata Keita.
**********Are you a modeller?*********
There is a huge shortage of modellers within the community and virtually every mod team desperately needs more (or even one!) as modelling is required to make any significant changes to units within the game. If you are a competent modeller you would be welcome in pretty much any project in which you had an interest, and you would be able to make sure that any personal project of your own could be completed and fail because of this lack.
The community strongly encourages everyone able to take an interest in modelling and you'll find several guides available to help on the Scriptorium.
The only programme currently able to create models for RTW is 3DSmax, however it is $$$ :(. A free 30 day download is available - however that's not nearly enough time to get useful results. You can extend the length of your trial by uninstalling it when not in use. Also, there are means by which models can be converted from the now-unavailable Gmax into 3DSMax, so if one team member has 3DSmax he can convert models from several different team members.
Previous Modding Roundups
2 February 2006 – Groundhog Day
5 January 2006 – Twelfth Night
4 December – Mexico Day of Artisans
1 November 2005 - All Hallows Day
Cool modders make their mods with the 
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Re: Modding News Roundup - 3 March - Hina Matsuri 'The Dolls Festival'
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Re: Modding News Roundup - 3 March - Hina Matsuri 'The Dolls Festival'
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