Christmas present, anyone?

[CountMRVHS]

Hi all,

Figured I'd post this here for the folks who, like myself, still play MTW.

Over the past few years I've been working on a mod for my own use, using the Viking era map and focusing on the post-Roman, pre-Viking era of Britain. I put together the factions by using Starkhorn's "Adding a New Faction to VI" guide, and changed some other stuff around as well, such as adding new units (no new images, however -- just renamed and re-tweaked units taken from the VI campaign and the MTW campaign). The map remains the same, as map-modding is beyond my ability.

There are still some things that I'd want to change eventually (some of the faction leaders' names, for example), but the mod is quite playable and, dare I say it, fun and challenging. I made it by myself, so there are some things that I'm sure aren't totally historically accurate; nevertheless, I tried to keep the "feel" right throughout.

So, although I originally just made it for myself, I now wonder if anyone else might be curious and interested to try it out. If so, I need to know how to make it available.

Here are some of the features of the mod:

Game beginning in the 5th century AD, as several pagan Germanic peoples are carving out kingdoms for themselves on the coasts of eastern and southern Britain, while Celtic kingdoms are trying to establish themselves and the heirs of the Roman rulers are desperately trying to maintain control.

10 Catholic factions:
-Irish
-Scots
-Picts
-Welsh
-Strathclyders
-Votadini
-the Men of Rheged
-the Men of Gwynedd
-Dumnonians
-Romano British

3 Pagan factions
-Angles
-Saxons
-Jutes

Many "new" units, including Hearthweru, Night Raiders, Cornish Bandits, Teulu, Keelmen, Gododdin Cavalry, Tryggmen, Ecgum Geneatas, and many more.

Different Conquest victory conditions: possession of critical lowland regions of Britain will be necessary to win the game.

No Watchtowers or Border Forts: Agents become crucial for maintaining security and spying out enemy forces.

No Vikings: Hordaland and Jutland begin as Rebel provinces, reachable only by agents.

Challenging gameplay: Many factions begin with only one or two provinces; but even factions with more land at the start will find it hard going. With so many factions on the map, the AI seems much more aggressive than the standard Viking campaign, as everyone tries to secure their own little kingdom and give themselves some elbow-room.

Anyway, if there is anyone interested in trying this out (I'd love to hear feedback, too!), I'll need to know how to upload it or mail it or whatever. If not, no big deal!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

CountMRVHS

-------------edit by drone----------------------
The mod can be downloaded here.
The unit fix can be found here.
------------------------------------------------

[predaturd]

someone tell him how to upload i want that mod

also does anyone know how to take out the ability of border forts to detect spys and assassins?

this mods gonna rule :)

[CountMRVHS]

Thanks for the interest! Hopefully someone can tell me how to make it available for you & anyone else.

I don't know if there is a way to make Border Forts unable to take out spies and assassins. I DO know that you can simply make Border Forts unbuildable, but leave Watchtowers buildable -- that way, you could see into neighboring provinces, but agents wouldn't be effected since Watchtowers don't catch spies or assassins.

I chose to take out both Watchtowers and Border Forts for my mod, because I wanted agents to be more important, and I wanted provinces to be a little harder to hold.

Anyway, I don't remember the specifics on how I did it, but I used Gnome Build_Prod and it was pretty simple. I don't know how to do it without Gnome, but if you know where to find the Border Fort in the gamefiles it should be easy enough.

As always, though, be careful when modding -- the slightest typo can make your game unplayable!

CountMRVHS

[caravel]

No Vikings: Hordaland and Jutland begin as Rebel provinces, reachable only by agents.

Great idea for a mod. You could potentially remove those provinces and add some extra ones if needed, especially to Ireland.

also does anyone know how to take out the ability of border forts to detect spys and assassins?

this mods gonna rule :)

You can't, but you can remove border forts altogether - as what you want is effectively a watchtower.

[CountMRVHS]

Good idea about changing provinces, Caravel. One of my few complaints with the Viking map is the representation of Ireland: it's just too easy to take the whole island and just sit there and tech up. More provinces there would help a bit.... and would definitely allow another viable faction or 2 on the island. Only problem is, I have 0 map skills.

Do you know how or where I can go about uploading this? I imagine it would be pretty simple, but I'm fairly inexperienced about computer stuff.

CountMRVHS

[caravel]

I know that Rythmic produced a map for the Brittania divided TW that has some extra provinces and it may be worth PM'ing him for some advice, or I can possibly help you if you provide me with a rough map showing exactly where you want the borders to lie and the names of the provinces, but I can't promise anything before mid January.

As to uploading, you can upload file and mods to the .org but I've never done it. You'd be better off pm'ing TosaInu about this. If you are going to upload I'd advise waiting until your mod is in a playable state and make the necessary changes to the map first - but of course that's up to you.

Good luck!

-edit: sorry about the typos, I've partaken of an ale or several.

[CountMRVHS]

Thanks for the point in the right direction, Caravel.

The mod *is* playable right now -- just a few things I might want to fiddle with later -- so I think I'll see about uploading it so I can start to get feedback from potential players.

Thanks for the offer with the map stuff, too. As I think about it, though, the one place where I'd *really* want an extra province or two is in the region labeled as "Francia" on the Viking map. Would it be more difficult to add a province or two there than to add provinces in Ireland? Just curious -- I don't consider map changes to be strictly essential at this point, but it might be fun if possible.

Hope you're enjoying some kind of holiday!

CountMRVHS

[Martok]

Nice work, CountMRVHS! I may have to give this one a try.


(Temporarily stickied.)

[axel]

woooow great CountMRVHS

[Aradan]

Downloading.... I hope my MTW will be still working. (Damn, this is going to make my exam period even harder!)

[CrazyGuy]

Hmmm.... Everyone's praise is making me jealous. Hopefully someone can take pity on the barely computer literate... If I explain what i'm doing, perhaps someone can explain what i'm doing/not doing? Bearing in mind that my girlfriend's computer has the internet connection which adds another layer of complexity...

First I follow the link on the website and download the zipped 'Dark Ages' folder to a CD.
Then I extract the folder on my (non-internet linked) computer.
I get the option of choosing the folder to which these files are extracted. I initally get given the option of extracting to a 'Dark Ages' file but access is denied. Therefore I choose to extract these files into my Medieval: Total War folder. (A possible error here?)
After this I can view files, which I do, safely in my M:TW folder in a sub-folder called Dark Ages. Everyone seems present and correct, although my Dark Ages is essentially just notepad documents nothing to install etc.
Eagerly anticipating the Mod I load up the game, (bear in mind that my previous mod experience is XL in which the mod is just 'there' when I start up the game), I choose 'New Game', as if it were XL, and expecting an option along the lines of 'Vikings Dark Ages'. But nothing.

Please help. Also, please remember that nothing is 'too ignorant' for me in this area.

[CountMRVHS]

Hmm, that sounds like the kind of thing I'd do myself..... no obvious errors that I can see, but bear in mind I really only have downloaded one mod (the fantastic FATW, for RTW:BI).

It would be very much appreciated if anyone who has downloaded can post about their installation process here... Then maybe I can determine whether it's an error on my end, or something else.

Of course, any feedback whatsoever will be appreciated, exams be damned, Aradan!

I know what it's like being unable to play a mod you want, so hopefully with all the experienced people on the boards we can get you fixed up, CrazyGuy!

CountMRVHS

[Raz]

I've compiled the mod and it's fixes currently released into one easy installer. If anyone wants I'll try to upload it somewhere. You'll still need to open your MTW directory and run the batch files after install, however. =D

[TosaInu]

I've compiled the mod and it's fixes currently released into one easy installer. If anyone wants I'll try to upload it somewhere. You'll still need to open your MTW directory and run the batch files after install, however. =D

That's nice Raz, maybe you can use the uploader in Site Tools, I'll add it to the entry then.

[CountMRVHS]

Looks like you're having an interesting campaign, Macsen!

I'm curious about how you managed to overcome the initial RB difficulties -- did you go for an early strike against the Angles, or did you try to turtle & build for awhile first?

I usually turtle & then get steamed... but sometimes it works . When I try to go on offense early, that's when the Welsh and my Celtic "brothers" invade Hwicce or elsewhere to take a piece of me. The Brythonic Cav is a godsend against the Welsh archers, but it's hard to afford too many of those in the beginning, especially when fighting a war on 2 (or 3, or 5) fronts.

For the most part, I'd be hesitant to do anything to give the RomanoBritish an easier time, such as decreasing the Angles' bodyguard unit. I do want the RB play experience to be as brutal as possible. Of course, I play on the normal size settings, so I don't know how larger sizes would affect the battles. The March Axemen compromise sounds good to me.

Good to know Arthur was able to help you out!

If after the RBs you want an even tougher challenge, try the Men of Rheged. 2 poor starting provinces and aggressive, nasty neighbors. They do have some interesting unit options: the royal bodyguard unit is the jav-cav Teulu, and they can train Celtic Warriors and Woodsmen.

It looks like things are ironing out in terms of the download and install. Thanks for those of you who have taken it upon yourself to come up with fixes! I wouldn't have been able to do that myself - not for a long time anyway, given my schedule this spring. I hope people will enjoy the mod and let me know what they think and how it plays.

CountMRVHS

[macsen rufus]

I must confess my memories of the early years are already hazy But as far as I can recall, it was a combination of turtling and teching up as and when funds allowed, interspersed with the odd opportunistic raid on any province that went rebel or desperate attacks on neighbours when my cashflow was turning negative - "do or die" moments like this came around every ten-twenty years or so, and wise investment was a major factor, as well as picking the right enemy! Definitely a tough fight - as witnessed by the fact I had a civil war - I rarely, if ever, get them playing vanilla VI