EB Preview :: Resources
Greetings Europa Barbarorum fans. Today we have another download for you to enjoy!
The 0.8 is getting ever nearer to release (now that holidays are over for most of us :), but in the meantime more and more additions are ready to be given to the fans before that glorious moment comes.
We have decided to release the Resources addon to the 0.74 build. This is almost finished work, though we reserve ourselves the right to change some things come 0.8.
We have seriously reworked Resources for EB, to get that extra "historical immersion" factor. The process was twofold: on one side, we have added new models, ui icons and tooltips. On the other, we have added plenty of resource locations to the campaign map. As a result, we got the map more crowded and full of interesting issues than any other mod :)
You will no doubt be most interested in the graphical side of this update. The man almost singlehandedly responsible for this amazing work is one of our prime modellers, Alin, whose other work includes our siege icon and fleet models that you know already. Several other models are also work of our new modellers, Shifty and Palissa. The idea behind these models (and the tooltips) was to represent the resources in a most realistic way possible (given the game limitations and the fact that it's still, for what it's worth, a game) instead of symbolic fantasy graphics. This is a direction that we would like to move in with all our campaign map models, if engine allows it.
Here are some screenshots to explain what we mean (screenshots quality may vary):
Arabia Felix!
Island of Tin... and some more tin... :)
Egypt, the Granary of Rome
Central Europe ain't that shabby, either
A thriving greek colony of Massalia
Fertile volcanic soil of Sicilia
TOOLTIP CONTEST
You will notice that we have new expanded tooltips for the resources in this upgrade. This is where some of you can give us a hand. I have filled some of the tooltips myself, and I'm not very glad of the results - some of these are just copied from wiki, etc. I thought that instead of overworking our staff, I could make a small fan contest: write your own tooltips for resources! The best ones - if they are good enough, and up to our standards - will be included in next build. A tooltip text should not be longer than 150 signs, and should provide historical information about uses of a resource in antiquity.
The resources are:
Small Precious Metal Mine, Large Precious Metal Mine, Iron, Olive Oil, Wine, Grain, Specialized Crafts, Timber, Stone Quarry, Textiles, Exotic Clothes & Dye, Luxury Goods, Wild Animals, Livestock, Slaves, Tin, Copper, Lead, Amber, Precious Stones, Fish, Salt, Mounts (Camels & Horses), Elephants & Ivory
Also in this preview, we have devised a way to show where on the map are our Unique Buildings:
Short FAQ:
Q: These resources are great, but won't they put a too heavy load on my graphic card?
A: They might, although we haven't experienced a significant change in testing. We have tried to keep a low amount of polygons in our models, while still keeping the "realistic" look. This is why you should backup your models_strat directory, if things go wrong you can always revert to the vanilla models.
Q: Some of the resource icons appear distorted, hidden in the ground or stuck in a mountainside. Am I doing something wrong?
A: No, you're not. It's RTW engine that's doing things wrong - unfortunately, resources form the lowest underlay of campaign map, and it was either this, or have them all floating above the ground.
Q: I've installed it all, but the resources are still in the old locations
A: The new locations only show up when starting a new campaign. Deleting map.rwm doesn't help, the old coordinates are kept in savegame.
Q: Some of the resources and/or wonder icons are in the water!
A: For wonders, this is intended, as some of them represent straits or other watery features. For resources - please report them, and I'll correct the locations. This is just a graphic glitch and does not affect gameplay in any way.
Q: The installation is causing various bugs, what do I do?
A: Report them here, and I'll see if I can fix them. Make sure you have ALL the files installed, not just models or just txt.
Q: Why do you have little stone circles all over the place?
A: Those are the new unique building markers. From now on, you will know where unique buildings are located in your province, and for the ones we have on the battlemap (the Pyramids, some of the cairn circles, the remains of Babylon, the Colossos of Rhodos, etc.) you can try (though you might not always be successful) fighting your battles close to those markers so that you can have those monuments show up on the battlefield. Before, you had little idea where the monuments were located.
Q: Well, why didn't you make them vary so that they aren't all one thing, and why did you pick that one thing (stone circle) anyway?
A: The engine won't allow it, unless we use up all our resource graphics for them. We decided to basically throw out the effects of one resource and use it as a generic place marker for these unique buildings. We chose the stone circle because it is a type of monument found across our map, from Scotland to Iberia to Armenia to the steppe. If it seems out of place in some locales (Greece, for instance), we understand this too, but for now this is our best option for marking them.
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Installation Instructions:
SIMPLE VERSION:
- Download the pack here
- Unpack it to your RTW directory
COMPLICATED VERSION (w/ backup)
- Download the pack here
- Backup the following files in your RTW directory:
Data/descr_sm_resources.txt
Data/text/strat.txt
Data/text/tooltips.txt
Data/world/maps/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt
- Backup this entire folder:
Data/models_strat
- Unpack the zip to your RTW directory
ADVANCED INSTALL (for modders):
- If you have made any modifications to your campaign map, and want to keep it, there is a file called "just_resources.txt" which holds just the resources locations code. Copy it into your descr_strat, overwriting everything between "Start of Landmarks Section" and "Start of Factions Section"
Stir, cool and serve. Enjoy!
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As always, if you have questions or comments, the best place to post them is here, where the EB team is most active:
Europa Barbarorum ORG forum
Europa Barbarorum TWC forum
We give special thanks to Imageshack that provides us with a simple, foolproof, and free way to show you all these pictures each week.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
The Europa Barbarorum team.
(PS: Sticky, please :)
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Originally Posted by Leon Blum - For All Mankind
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