The Fourth Age: Total War - Forth Eorlingas Released!

[Dol Guldur]

Judge, please follow the instructions - the mod (as it plainly says) is for BI (so you need the BI disc in the PC) and it is a modfolder and so the installation has its oww folder and does not touch the bi or rtw data.

It is all automated and as long as you define the right path in the installer process (which is the folder where your exes reside) then you will have no problems.

Again, please follow the instructions. We cannot offer support for those who do not do so.

[Judge]

Hi Dol, i realised after what a silly question i had posted lol,

just to let u know, i have installed to folder below,

C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\bi"

i have the icons on my desktop, i also tried my Bi disc but only Bi was loading up??

so my question, what have i done, is there anything i should look for to confirm i have done the install correct?

thanks for ur time and sorry for being a pain, i cant wait to play the mod though

[Dol Guldur]

Judge,

C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\bi is NOT the Rome Total War directory to which, as a matter of course, all mods are extracted to. The correct path (in your case) to state in the installer would be:

C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War

which is I believe the default path set in the installer (so you do not need to change it).

I can offer no support for user errors. Please start over and follow the instructions. Do feel free to ask questions if you do not understand anything.

[Judge]

gah damit yes that was the defaulkt path, but i fought i had to change it to the Bi folder as it was a mod for bi, ah well nvm il uninstall FA and reinstall to default path,

thanks Dol

[Dol Guldur]

That's OK - please stick to the instructions and you should not have any more problems.

[Dzello]

Hello. I just wanted to take the time to say great job on this mod. I have not played rome in along time. I lost one of my cds so just for this mod I went to the store and bought another one. ( GOLD Edition) I am not disappointed at all. A lot of people get upset or angry when mod teams dont get stuff done right away. I know this because I use to date a girl who did a lot of modding for cod1 and 2. Anyways I know its hard because you have real jobs and then you have to work at a mod when you hae the time. You guys did a really fantastic job in a reasonable fast time. I look forward to playing this a long time and I will be on here keeping up to date. Once again good job!!!!

[Arakorn-eir]

Poostick: Well, age is hardcoded in RTW (chances of character dying increases every 10 year after 60 years of age, all the way to 120 years when the loop starts all over again. If I remember correctly, that is. ;) ). You can of course put some really heavy longer life-traits/ancs etc for the generals. (Which I believe Apoc has).

Judge: You need the BI disc (and BI patched to 1.6).
Don't install it to the BI folder, you're supposed to install it to the RTW folder (C:\Program File\Activision\Rome - Total War or C:\Program File\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War). (Should be quite clear in the instructions :P ).

[Laman]

Downloaded it yesterday. It's fun playing with the Easterlings. The fighting with Gondor (well United Kingdom, but since Arnor is not on the map I just refer to them as Gondor) has just begun in Rhovanion and southern Mordor. I have gotten a border with the Haradrim in Khand, and I don't trust my so-called allies, will leave some decent-sized garrisons there. Didn't bother to download the music, too big and not important enough, wanted to get playing as soon as possible, may download it later though.

[SirRethcir]

Didn't bother to download the music, too big and not important enough,

Are you sure about that? The music makes up 50% of the overall mood of the mod. Especially in battles.

[Arakorn-eir]

I agree with Rethcir, we strongly suggest you download it. It really gives the Middle-earth feel to the mod.

[Dzello]

I agree. Anyone who takes the time to download the mod should download the music also. It does a really good job of putting the right mood in for the mod.

[Kolaris]

I've tried downloading the music from all 3 mirrors and it stops just near the end - 140mb, 144mb, and then 137mb

Anyone know what the problem is?

[Dzello]

My cousin had the same problem. The next day he downloaded it fine so just try again later. Sometimes I guess it can be just your connection. Good Luck.

[Laman]

Bah, the music will be downloaded today or tomorrow. Probably within this week anyway, however it is not like I know what I'm actually missing

And as I now have played a little more there are some points I like to make (not having to do with balance things):
- The sound of the Rohan units have some very annoying "effects", that I'm very sure is unintentional, and hard to describe (english not my first language). Some Gondorian units also seems to have that but I haven't really played with them. All other factions don't have those problems (although the Rhovanion Huntsmen I trained in my Rhun game have some very obvious echo which while annoying, comes nowhere near the Rohirrim oddities)

- Killing speed too fast, would probably not have been annoyed with this if it weren't for the fact I have played EB. Simply reducing lethality for close-combat units (EB has it nowhere over 0.4 for those types I think), however this is more a matter of taste, some like fast battles.


I know that you are going to expand this and add more factions, but one suggestion for faction I have, if you have an unused faction slot you don't know what faction will go there, add Khand. Would probably be fun to play.

[Laman]

Downloaded the music.

Here is my first test with using Orcs. Thought I would share it with you all


Great mod

[PapaNasty]

I've played mainly the Reunited Kingdom so far, but I too have noticed a fair bit of "echo" when selecting units in the battle screen coming from the new voiced additions. Its not too annoying, but noticeable. Still love the game though ;) especially when fighting Harad, and your troops get thrown high in the air by those BIG Oliphaunts LOL.

[Dol Guldur]

Echo?

The game adds an echo effect to unit voices when in forests (and cities I believe). Otherwise any poor voice recording - which exists - I would not described as "echo". We are working on unit voices, balance and a ton of other stuff - though we are seeking to perfect what we have rather than add new factions at this time.

1.9 should be out possibly by Saturday. Again, this is an enhancement and will not add new factions, map regions etc.

[Arakorn-eir]

I know that you are going to expand this and add more factions, but one suggestion for faction I have, if you have an unused faction slot you don't know what faction will go there, add Khand. Would probably be fun to play.

In the beginning we intended to add Khand as a faction but due to limited time and resources Khand was incorporated with Rhun. You can still access some Variag units though, such as horse archers.

[PapaNasty]

woot woot, can't wait for 1.9!!

[Laman]

In the beginning we intended to add Khand as a faction but due to limited time and resources Khand was incorporated with Rhun. You can still access some Variag units though, such as horse archers.

Have used them as Rhun and they are very nice fighting the Haradrim hordes, I even hired a company cataphract archers, eh Dragonshields. However if Khand where to be added what would they need unitwise that they don't have? Not much I tell you, infantry: spearmen like the watchmen but with better armour and training (so they have something that is comparable to Haradrim and Rhun spearmen) and foot archers (watchmen with bows instead of spear and shield) and that's all. As for cavalry, maybe some (light and) medium cavalry lancer(s) (watchmen and/or spearmen on horseback) for close combat, an intermediary level of horse archer between outriders and nobles might also be worthwhile (the aforementioned foot archer on a horsie). Dragonshields would make good Generals Cavalry. Of course even though there is not as much work needed compared to other possible factions, there is still work and I am happily unaware of how much work that actually is needed even for these small additions (and I haven't touched the officers and faction symbol and other such things).


Dol Guldur, haven't you used Rhovanion Huntsmen levies, there is some sort of echo there.

Looking forward to 1.9

[Dol Guldur]

It's not just a question of too much work right now, it's also a question of cultural limitations and keeping resources open for further expansion so that the whole thing does not need reworking.

I'll check the Rhovanion unit you mention.

[Arakorn-eir]

New patch (1.9) has been released, see this thread for more info!

[B-DogKY]

I have downloaded and played 1.7 for a bit now. I noticed a problem with the Oliphants, tho. I have not seen anyone mention this as a bug yet, but anyway, here goes. I usually take an army from the area around Minas Tirith straight south to the bridge between what quickly becomes Harad territory and my own. I then await their attack. I have done this in 3 seperate campaigns, so it is reproducable. When the Haradrim attack me, they bring a unit of Oliphants and this is when the problem starts. The first time I played this battle, the Oliphants walked up to the bridge, and I THOUGHT blocked the other units from crossing. I killed the Oliphants with a ballista, and the other units just stood there, I sped it up and they lost due to timer. Now when one of the Oliphants fell, it looked like it blocked the bridge, but I couldn't tell for sure. The next 2 times I restarted the campaign and did the same thing, the Oliphants stayed back (were definitely NOT blocking the bridge) yet none of the Haradrim units attempted to cross this time either, and they lost due to timer running out. I also played the historical battle (misremember the name) and noticed some oddities when the Haradrim came across the ford. They eventually did make it across the ford, but it took awhile and there were some units kinda moving back and forth across the ford, mainly near the Oliphant unit. I was wondering, are these issues due to the size of the Oliphants? Has anyone else noticed this?

All in all, I have to say I thought the mod was great, and you folks have done a commendable job. I have not finished a campaign with the Reunited Kingdoms due to that bug I mentioned, but I did finish one with the Eorlingas and it was great fun riding over all opposition with the Riders. (I always pronounce Eorl as Earl in my head, I guess different strokes for different folks) Very well done, and I'm looking forward to downloading 1.9.

Thanks for your time,
B-Dog

[Dol Guldur]

Tolkien took the old Anglo-saxon word "Eorl" for his character that led the Eorlings, but it is indeed the word from which Earl originates.

As to the Mumak - no one has noted any insurmountable (if you'll excuse the pun) problems but you'll be glad to know that the Mumakil are being seriously reworked and improved for the 2.0 release (along with all units).

Glad you enjoyed the mod and hope you'll download 1.9!

[B-DogKY]

OK, ya got me curious about this, so I checked up on it. The anglo-saxon word eorl is indeed pronounced differently than I thought, but is NOT pronounced AY-orl (although a few tolkien sites have mistakenly pronounced it this way). OK, this is hard to describe, but I'll try. There are 2 eo combinations, one with a tick over the e, one without. They are both anglo-saxon. The word eorl as it appears in Beowulf (supposedly the source for Tolkien's stuff on the Riders) does NOT have the tick above the e, nor does the name Eorl in LOTR. The eo with the tick above the e IS pronouced AY-o, however, the one without is pronounced like the e in let or met, so would be more like EH-o (as long as you do not pronounce eh like canadians do) so the Tolkien pronunciation would be more like EH-orl (saying the EH like the e in let or met). Note that the names Eomer and Eowyn DO have the tick mark above the E, and would therefore be pronounced AY-omer and AY-owyn, respectively. Oddly enough, an eored (group of Riders) ALSO has the tick mark, and would be pronounced AY-ored, but Eorlingas does not have the mark, and would therefore be EH-orlingas. Wild stuff, huh?

Please don't misunderstand me, it's y'alls mod and you pronounce it the way you want, you just got me curious about the pronunciation. Hey, because of your mod I learned something new, and that can't be bad, right? I just downloaded 1.9 and will give it a try soon. Since no one else has had trouble with the Oliphants, I'll give the RK another whirl, Thanks very much, Dol.

B-Dog

[Laman]

It's not just a question of too much work right now, it's also a question of cultural limitations and keeping resources open for further expansion so that the whole thing does not need reworking.

I'll check the Rhovanion unit you mention.

Well as for culture they would be barbarian like Rhun & Dunland, so I see no probs there. With keeping resources open I assume building complexes or something like that, since hidden resources which I assume you use for the areas is not the case since there already is a Khand area, but buildings, the factions seems to have different ones (haven't looked in that file but I assume this since with f.e. Harad when conquering Gondorian provinces I can't use the existing barracks like in vanilla but must build new ones).

However why not then let Khand share with someone else? My suggestion would be Rohan, first thought of Rhun but they are infantry heavy and need upper level barracks for stables, while Khand in that aspect is more like Rohan and would be relatively cavalry heavy. The downside of that would be that if Rohan conquers Khandian provinces (or vice versa) they can immediately make use of the local barracks, however those two will generally not be each others main enemies. If it isn't obvious by now I really like Khand (I have even played a few custom battles only using Variag units, rather fun) .

[Dol Guldur]

Hey, Bdog - I like that sort of stuff (my ancestry and all) but I'm a bit busy on the mod right now. Maybe you have a point, I've not looked into it seriously enough - whatever the case you can be sure Tolkien - who even at a very yuoung age was very gifted in such things - is far more an authority than current scholars. Let me know if you find anything said by him - I have some old tapes of Tolkien talking and reading poems. Maybe I'll give them a listen and see if he mentions Eorl/Eorlingas ;)

Lofmann - appreciate your suggestions but it's not that simple. Take for example portraits: These are shared by culture so Khand would have to be a new culture as it has mongol-looking family members. Just trust me that it could not be done without a serious reworking of the whole and we have a ton of work to do for 2.0 and adding that to it would throw our next release to the back end of this year. Now, you woulnd't want that would you? ;)

[Laman]

...
Lofmann - appreciate your suggestions but it's not that simple. Take for example portraits: These are shared by culture so Khand would have to be a new culture as it has mongol-looking family members. Just trust me that it could not be done without a serious reworking of the whole and we have a ton of work to do for 2.0 and adding that to it would throw our next release to the back end of this year. Now, you woulnd't want that would you? ;)

I would not consider them having separate portraits that important, I rarely look that close on them myself. But, well I'm not doing this mod, and I would not want to delay it too much

I still hope they will be in in 2.0 but if they still won't make it, I won't be too disappointed. Keep up the good work

[Laman]

Edit: Content irrelevant.

[Laman]

Edit: Content irrelevant.