Modding News Roundup - 1 May - Festival of Beltane
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.
Evil creatures from Lord of the Rings TW ; the City of Rome from Paeninsula Italica ; British Line Infantry from Napoleonic Total War 2 ; New units from The Crusades
Rome Total War
Modding News Roundup
April, the month of beauty, and judging from these screenshots the modders have not disappointed.
Mods Released
Gameplay was the theme of this month. The First Triumvirate is a long-established community favourite offering a unique gameplay experience with three separate campaigns, one for each of three masters of Rome in the titular time period. Rome Total Gameplay and Terrae Expugnandae are young compilation mods from Seasoned Alcoholic and Lusted respectively offering gameplay improvements as a priority, along with the usual graphical improvements.
Also, four months after the release of the final official patch from CA we have an (unofficial) 1.2 to 1.5 port with Rome Total Realism Platinum.
New forum feature - Tutorial database
As a major improvement, the Org has added a Links Manager feature - the first section to be unveiled is the Tutorial Database containing fully categorised links to modification tutorials from across the modding community - an idea which emerged from the ongoing discussions on the Future of Modding Total War. Hopefully, this will help make known modding information even more accessible than before. This feature is still very new - suggestions for improvements and any technical problems should be addressed to Epistolary Richard.
The next area to be unveiled will be a Mod Downloads area which will be accompanied by an associated forum. Click here to read more details.
Strategic AI Expansion Research
Proving there's still lots more to learn about optimising the AI in RTW - nikolai1962 has been performing fascinating research to try to identify and eliminate the 'black spots' in the vanilla map. Essential reading for mappers and all campaign modders.
Also, Stuie has been working to get full functionality out of the mod command line switch. With it, mods can be launched through a separate executable giving priority to files in a different folder - allowing modders to provide a simple click'n'play process for mod-users whilst leaving their vanilla files untouched.
Promoting your mod
A reminder to all mod teams members as to the means by which you can promote your modification on the Org. Have a single central co-ordinating thread in the Forge, including links to your previews and latest release. You can make announcements and post previews on the Mod Discussion forum. To ensure items are included in Modding News Roundups PM them to Epistolary Richard. You may have also noticed increased coverage on the Org's front page of releases and major previews - again PM Epistolary Richard to discuss.
New on the Scriptorium
Research: Game AI stuff from nikolai1962
In-depth research on many strategic level fixes to provide a more rational AI
Resource: 'Barebones' BI unit files from KonstantinosXI
'Blank' unit files for BI - ideal to start total conversion projects
Tutorial: Converting a Roman Faction to a Different Culture from Atilius
Mods Released
For BI 1.6
Year Jump mod
A concept mod that allows the game to be put on 'autopilot' at the beginning for a certain number of turns
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For RTW 1.5
The First Triumvirate 1.9
Take command as Caesar, Crassus, Pompey or Vercingetorix in the waning days of the Roman Republic in this long-running community favourite
Rome Total Gameplay 0.2
An open beta of a new mod making improved gameplay its core priority
Terrae Expugnandae 4.0
Another update to Lusted's compilation mod - see here for a screenshot preview
RTR Platinum edition
A 1.5 port of Rome Total Realism
Latest Mod Previews & updates on the Org
Europa Barbarorum
- Roman Auxilia
- April Preview
Citadel - latest screenshots
Blue Lotus - latest screenshot
Age of Vikings & Fanatics - Andalusian faction work
The Crusades - latest screenshots
Paeninesula Italica
- preview no. 2
- preview no. 1
The Lord of the Rings: Total War v2 preview
Hegemonia - City States
- The City of Argos
- The City of Taras
Arthurian TW Previews
- Picts and Gododdin
- trailer
Mediterranean Total War
- Libya
- the Samnites
Fourth Age: Total War Update - The Guards of the Citadel
Imperium Total War
Ages of Darkness II -Preview 1
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.
Ran no Jidai
This project is designed to be the definitive full conversion historical modification project for the global RTW community to bring back to origins that made great the TW series, SHOGUN total war. It will be focusing on the Sengoku Jidia era in Japan, in which Samurai ruled the lands and Daimyos competed for the title of Shogun.
Ran no Jidai continues to produce stunning screenshots, awesome battlemap buildings and new game ideas that have wow'ed the modding community. The team is currently looking for some experienced modders & modellers to help with the final push towards a first release. Check out their forums here or PM kagemusha direct.
**********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
6 April - Thailand Chakri Day
3 March - Hina Matsuri 'The Dolls Festival'
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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) Many many thanks ER. 
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