>>>DarthMod 1.4B & Update 4 Released<<<...Attack!

[DARTH VADER]

DarthMod
M2TW 1.4B

Mod size unpacked=220MB



DOWNLOAD from FILEFRONT

then....

Install below the small but "magic" file that will enhance your experience with DarthMod 1.4B. Inspired by the feedback received so far! Keep it coming!

The Darth Magic Enhancement 4

How to install?
-You unzip
-You copy the DarthMod file to replace the original of DarthMod 1.4B

___DarthMod_M2TW 1.4B___

This is the new standalone DarthMod for all of you who want to enhance their experience with this game (Medieval 2:Total War).



You can expect from DarthMod the following:

-Superb battle dynamics almost close to reality
-Far Better AI than this proposed by CA in battles
-Far better campaign balance and campaign AI
-New more sophisticated map to provide better challenge to the human player
-A forum to be dedicated to the fans and their valuable feedback here in TWcenter....

Immediately Download and play with the custom battles I provide. Try to win!

-Better field battle AI(=Better maneuvering, thresholds, formation holding, line defensing and charging timing)
-Optimization of phalanx (Hearing the reports of the players)
-Better campaign income balance (to help AI grow better armies)
-Tweak of campaign movement points for better and more difficult experience
-Better humanized responses for all types of units. Correcting the issue of light cavalry to be more powerful and infantry to be too slow. This will make the battlefield not only to look even more real but the AI to synchronize and coordinate better.
-New flanking parameters for AI. It will try to outsmart you with everything it has and probably humiliate you. If you have equal armies and very hard difficulties..you are doomed!
-New melee realism parameters
-New improved Siege AI
-New Hp balance of walls
-Extreme AI ferociousness and responses
-Better diplomacy in some sections
-New Darth Campaign AI(=trying to achieve world war alliances. Each early alliance will decide your future friends and enemies. AI will not attack you in whole but some will trust you and help you and others will hate you. The pope will help the pacts he likes against you unless of course he likes you to do the opposite. Easier to gain vassals. AI will raise huge armies against you when it decides to attack you and with the help of its allies. Hopefully you will have trusted AI too and they will come to help you.)
-Fixed the CA infantry charge cohesion problem and also the general cohesion 100% improved. Efficiency of infantry is increased and also visually.
-Humanised the movement speeds due to new responses.
-Making Responses and speeds even more humanised and better
-Updated the campaign AI to make AI armies more determined to defend themselves than wait in their castles. Also this affects the rebels who would like to take your undefended lands with a lot of raid attacks...try it.
-Merchants balance finalised
-New map balance from The Border Reiver (More castles to allow AI to field even better armies, the capitals are stronger, Constantinople is the most developed city on the map, new province = Athens...could not add more=no time, less rebels more provinces for factions...more)
-The new mercenaries from the Border Reiver are in place (30+) together some of my own (Dismounted knights etc. after 1200-1300). New mercenary system=a lot of mercenary roster=cheap to hire + expensive to maintain =you can wage easily & quickly large armies and wars but have to disband later bcs it will be too expensive. The AI will be able also to hire easily the mercs and attack you with quality armies)
-Bugs from 1.4A eradicated
-New realism melee settings and formations and AI, surprise to the Darth Beta team bcs never tested as it is....now you will witness the full DarthMod as it was planned!

Special Thanks go to :

-The Border Reiver who is a special new contributor to DarthMod. His help is more than valuable and he is completely responsible for the new map of DarthMod which developed it all by himself.
But not only this...he is the developer of the heraldry mod for DarthMod compining the work of his and Rawghi.
It is not fully ready but it is fully functional.
And again....he is the current developer of historic events for DarthMod by taking permission from Tokus to inlcude his customised Historical Events from the Deus Lo Vult mod of Repman.. You can check and add ideas below:
I pronounce him by now....Darth Reiver!
-NorbaK (Was a supporter in the starting moments of DarthMod M2TW and convinced me to continue together with other people that enjoyed my mods)
-Wipeout140 (Old supporter of DarthMod since RTW-BI)
-Headlock (Current DarthMod rotation beta team leader and creator of the gun smoke mod used in DarthMod)
-Prof from whom I use the majority of the screenshots and all the edited by me (The hilarious yes...) screens are generated from his creations (And 2 from The Border Reiver)
-Russ Mitchell (The historian of DarthMod from whom I wait his valuable resources for future evolution)

I thank my new Darth Beta team who currently is:

The Border Reiver (Again!)
Marine Hoplite
Havoc04
PeteSKTemplar
jmack-
fireship4-
Marku


I thank all of you the fans who press me to do these things....
I thank all TWcenter staff who continue to support the community.




And last but not least....I thank Creative Assembly UK/Australia for creating this magnificent game in a way that modders can "play" with it.


Darth Vader
email:thomadisnick@hotmail.com
my forums:http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=293
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=71
my pages:http://www.myspace.com/thomadisnick (Donation is available there!)
http://www.myspace.com/nickthomadis

01/07/2007



-Installation Instructions-

Install M2TW and patch it to 1.2 then:

-Open the installation package(After you unzip it in TW center mirror zip mode)
-Manually browse the installer to install it where you have your main game directory like this for example:
C:\program files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War
and not:
C:\program files\SEGA\Medieval II\data = wrong
-You will have now a Launch_DarthMod.bat in your main game directory which you will use/double click each time to play DarthMod(If you want fix your own shortcut for it in your desktop but the installer will create one for you automatically if you want)
-Play!

(You can install over previous version of DarthMod_M2TW 1.4 but better not continue your saved campaign)

-If you anticipate problems try deleting the file map.rwm which is here:
C:\....\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\DarthMod\DATA\world\maps\base\

According to your custom installation of the game.
-If the generated desktop .bat launch icon is not working, make your own shortcut by copying the Launch_DarthMod.bat



Notices:
-You will not be able to play historical battles unter DarthMod unless you copy the following root game folder whole files .../data/world/custom and .../data/world/maps/battle, respectively to Darthmod/data/world/...
-DarthMod does not use/mod other mods or original game so you can play/swap with it at any time.(Concerning you have installed it correctly as advised above)
-It is highly recommended to play DarthMod M2TW 1.4 without any other mods installed as it is bug free tested as is. I have no responsibility nor I reply to repeatitive mails when you want to mod DarthMod.


History of DarthMod_M2TW_1.4...click show:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

DM1.4A

In short....
This update of DarthMod will be a complete mystery. It will Only reveal from the shadows of its dark existence.
You will play and see things for yourself...then you will ask...did you change this? Yes I will say...
Then you will ask how I change this....hmmm. Then you will ask if this is affecting a parameter...hmmm cold...
maybe this one then you ask? No..no....colder it...is.

No more claims. I release, you play, you witness!
I guarantee that this latest mod is the best I have done in my life for total war series concerning battles (Exceeding even my RTW/BI innovations).

***URGENT*** UPDATED THE INSTALLER WITH THE FOLLOWING(You can update with OS26 yourself or if you are unsure re-download and install over your first DarthMod installation):

OS26 for 1.2 (10/6/2007)

Really urgent OS but...
-Fixes the minor unbalance reported for pilgrims and finally....
-THE BIGGEST INNOVATION OF ALL!
My new melee offset parameters coding is something never introduced to the game. I guess CA is not even aware of this so better to see this post.

The line that is in EDU which handles the formation of units somehow internaly corresponds with the melee behaviour of troops. I will not write full thought of mine behind this because...I do not have the time and I used a lot for it.
The new parameters that affect the cohesion and battle melees are:

heavy swordsmen/penetration based
0.0, -15.0, 6.0, -45.0

heavy halberd/standing+
0.0, 0.0, -0.5, -16.0

spearmen/cohesion based
0.0, 0.0, 0.0, -3.0

pikemen/stationary
0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0

crack elite/self dependant based
1.0, -15.0, -6.0, -45.0

Lancers/penetration +++
1.2, -1.2, 6.4, -20.0

Heavy cavalry/penetration
1, 3.4, 3.5, -6

mobile cavalry/distant fight
2, 5.4, 7, 10

These new settings in this attribute ...for example click show:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

type Dismounted Chivalric Knights
dictionary Dismounted_Chivalric_Knights ; Dismounted Chivalric Knights
category infantry
class heavy
voice_type Heavy
banner faction main_infantry
banner holy crusade
soldier Dismounted_Chivalric_Knights, 48, 0, 0.5
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, hardy, can_withdraw
formation 0.0, -15.0, 6.0, -45.0, 3, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 13, 3, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, piercing, sword, 0, 0.35
;stat_pri_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, melee_simple, blunt, none, 0, 0.35
;stat_sec_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 11, 11, 6, metal
;stat_armour_ex 8, 9, 0, 0, 8, 6, 6, metal
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 6
stat_ground 1, -2, 3, 2
stat_mental 13, normal, trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay -2500
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 670, 225, 90, 70, 670, 4, 150
armour_ug_levels 4, 5
armour_ug_models Dismounted_Chivalric_Knights, Dismounted_Chivalric_Knights_ug1
ownership france, denmark, spain
era 1 france, denmark, spain
era 2 france
;unit_info 13, 0, 22

Are affecting the movement and behaviour of the unit when it is in melee state. So by understanding how it works and given the a.m values, you will see each unit not only to be effective in terms of stats by an unseen visual but actually WATCH how it fights differently. For example units which are supposed to stand and stay coherent will do so, units which are supposed to trace their victims dynamically...wil do so, units which are supposed to penetrate deep into enemy lines...will do so...visually and physically.

Just apply my OS (The EDU is oly changed) to the DM 1.4 and see the 300% better difference in battles and ...how you easily lose from AI because now the AI units fight effectively and are not idle....enough speaking! TEST.
I will fix new installer containing OS26 but in the meantime ..play!


-The feel of battles is simply amazing and realistic.
-The AI is extra effective and clever.
-Many new fixes included such as the new "Darth Pikemen Fix" where Pikemen use only their pikes and only in phalanx formations. Try some battles with AI consisting only pike and musket and tell me how you manage to win it now. Also skirmishing is very much enhanced and really dangerous. You may not micromanage your foot/cavalry skirmishers and they do fine now....a lot more.

If you do not see what I claim here, I will return all the donation money back.

Read below...

The time has passed...so new is the 1.2 patch. Still...DarthMod is ready to be unleashed for version 1.2 of the award winning game of SEGA/Creative Assembly, Medieval 2:Total War. The past version of DarthMod was named "Lite" because it included only changes concerning the gameplay of the game and many innovations that made it popular just only for this. And it was thought that it should not need anything else. It reached version 1.3D for version 1.1 of the game. All the history of it resides in the open source thread and can be also read here:

OS 1 - OS20 History

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Update History from top to down

First Release

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Realistic Darth unit movement speeds (No insect like moving anymore and more vital your decisions in the battlefield since the units now cannot teleport)

-Realistic Darth mass integration (Chaos in the battlefield like true medieval battles, devastating heavy knight charges, formation penetrations etc.)

-Temporary 2H unit fix introduced by Lusted and balanced by me(I have used the Janissary animation and balanced the stats in a way that AI manages them well in campaign and in battlefield)

-Realistic Darth projectile speeds and trajectories (No more mortar like crossbows, crossbowmen and firearms men can only fire when they have a clear line of sight and not on top of others thus making them less powerful.Especially the firearms, before they had an invisible arc firing and killing anyone)

-New special longbow arrow model (A gift to the longbowmen to give them the advantage they deserved)

-All factions unlocked

-Some very minor adjustments in the EDU file concerning the stats(More armour to Gothic Knights and Byzantine Kataphracts and a few others)

-Reduced fatalities for extra long and decisive battle melees

-Improved animation swings per soldier for more realistic and tense battle visuals (so that there are no idle melee visuals)

Open Source 1 Updated 27/12/2006

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Correct bugs of ballista/cannon tower and Venetian armour
-Advanced DarthMod stats phase 1 (increase of defence/armour with certain algorithm to improve endurance of battles, various balance corrections, new costs settings for better AI/campaign, improved Byzantine army stats, Elephant endurance etc. )
-New wall settings (plain wall arrows do not kill too many troops)
-New projectile settings. (Plain archer’s fire carpet arrow firings now...try the longbow men and Agincourt battle to test! Fire rate=improved)
-All dismounted troops that were unavailable are now available in the building queue/mercenary pool
-New mass settings for more penetrating heavy cavalry and more variance according to each type. (For example Byzantine Cataphract cavalry are simply tanks)
My first pure AI modification for M2TW, Have created 2 formations to substitute the previous CA default with minor changes and have manipulated a lot the config AI for hopefully a better and more challenging battleground
Generally the battles are immensely improved..if you liked 1.0 version

Open Source 2 Updated 27/12/2006

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Corrected bug of mercenary file in first open source beta (thanks for reporting it to me so quickly)
-Corrected issue of slow movement Heavy Cavalry and slow turning around (Thanks Norbak and others who reported)
-Improved Janissary Heavy infantry Balance (As asked)

Open Source 3 Updated 28/12/2006

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Corrected CTD siege bug when rams finished their door penetration.

Open Source 4 Updated 31/12/2006

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Included 2 new arrow models, The horse archer bow which has less range and more flat trajectory and the eastern composite bow with large power and flatter trajectory than the normal.
-With the help of these 2 new models, all archers have been balanced in a unique way and each culture will have each own special archers. For example, the Mongols have the best, more rapid and dangerous horse archers in the game, Longbow men will fire even more rapidly than the median, composite bowmen will be superior from westerners bowmen etc.
-Includes Darth_Diplomacy-Campaign AI version 1.0…you must try it.(Removed the previous of Shaba’s)
-Optimised the Darth formation AI battle system
-Made walls and towers adjustments for more realistic endurance and fire rates
-Fixed siege ladder conjunction and effectiveness
-Siege battles will be the best experience so far witnessed. (Careful AI strategy, difficult gate invasion, realistic wall assaults etc.)
-Fixed some minor issues in projectiles
-Advanced Darth Stats Phase 2 (stat_delay techniques, General_unit mobility, Powerful and realistic Cavalry wedge….many many more)
-A lot to witness yourself in battle and campaign!
-Corrected CTD siege bug when rams finished their door penetration.

Open Source 5 Updated 1/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Have included Darth Formations M2TW version 1.0 (Have forgotten to do so yesterday)

Open Source 6 Updated 4/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Advanced Darth Stats phase 3 (Faster animation swings for infantry (were by CA too slow, and improved infantry charge and coherence with innovative stat fire technique, new balances for some units etc.)
-New arrow model for Mongol horse archers
-Innovative new method for unique per projectile delay control for supreme variance of roles and power of projectile units
-Using this I balanced horse projectiles to fire more realistically and less rapidly (Now they are as they should be in real life)
-Inserted some more dismounted knights to building queues
-Improved attack bandwidth and dynamics of siege ladders and towers
-Made missile cavalry to hold back in sieges as asked.

Open Source 7 Updated 6/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Eliminated AI combat occasional passiveness and made it more determined to attack you when it is out-missiled. (Yes even better than this CA had offered in the patch and very important for your battles against AI. Much more difficult opponent now)
-Seriously Improved/finalized siege ladder/towers clearance attack method.

Open Source 8 Updated 10/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Balanced Peasants as asked
-Balanced 2 handed units as asked
-Improved Campaign AI siege units preference
-Improved AI Formation that attacks gates
-Found finally way to override the effects for missiles so arrow trails to be eradicated to be more realistic and give better fps. (Use only my Launch_DarthMod.bat and the 2 files copied in the original data file of the game with the structure I provide in my file to use it)
*to be used in other mods correct your .bat files to have these lines:
"medieval2.exe --io.file_first @MyMod.cfg"
(MyMod=any name you play with mod switch) and of course use my 2 files (descr_arrow_trail_effects,descr_flaming_projectiles) to be copied in original "data" file of the game.

Open Source 9 Updated 12/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Included new DarthFormations for M2TW 2.0
-Peasant balance completed
-Finalysed cavalry slow turn problem (Combination of files but this last one is included in the battle config). Now cavalry will break easier and re-attack.
-Seriously improved Darth Projectile system (Archery has variation in aiming and general skill, and also more obvious use of carpet fire. Guns are very effective against mass of troops(Can kill many even in 3-4 ranks behind, but not good as sharpshooters as before, therefore used historically)
-Fixed a lot of things in EDU(Aztec are cheaper so can build ****es, French can built more easily some special cavalry units, some extra mini-balances etc.)

Open Source 10 Updated 20/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Innovative new pathfinding modding. This corrects and improves the following:
1)More humanised grouping and moving of troops in the battlefield.(Less sychronisation between them, occasional AI column widthing when moving etc.)
2)More variation of penalties and bonuses for every type of unit and terrain so that AI can use them better in pre-calc.(Cavalry will rule the open terrain battlefield, will be afraid of harsh terrain, infantry will be good for all around defending etc.)
3)Corrects probably and decisively the unit chargecohesion problem (Not eradicated but improved)

-Balanced stats to make battles more prolonged but also to adapt with the new pathfinding model.(To all modders:You should be careful if you want to use my pathfinding.txt bcs it will seriously affect your EDU's balance)

-My new Darth Diplomacy/Campaign War AI pack: (I will release it soon as standalone)
What it contains in short is:
1)Much better diplomacy negotiations (Able to form quick alliances, military passages, trade agreements, vassals etc. with those who logic says they should accept in their current war state.
2)The pope will no longer accuse you when you are obviously defending your lands from catholic intruders (extra mini script)
3)All pope interactions enormously improved.(The AI factions which attack you will be immediatelly be excommunicated if you have good piety and they do not, You can wage wars against catholics if you have proven the god's will by building temples and following crusades which will boost your pope's acknowledgement more realistically etc.)
4)Alliance packs will be formed and last realistically and you should not betray them but rather provoke them to attack you so to gain general favour (Like in real war you can press them with your armies in their *****rs or leave smthg undefended but never attack unprovoked or the whole world will know and destroy you)
5)You should be careful when you sack or exterminate population or generaly your dread factors because you will cause hate among the world (Maybe you like this)
6)If a nation grows to strong all other mini-nations will form alliances against it to cut it down
7)Difficulty levels now not so aggressive in H or VH. In fact it is balanced a lot out.
8)Crusades are seriously more easy to reach their target and if attacked by another catholic, the Pope and all other catholics will curse him with endless hate.
9)All campaign rates (Taxes, income, siege attrition etc.) have been realistically balanced)

-Merchant trade resources made more lucrative.

-Advanced Darth Stats Final Phase
1)New Darth Mass system
2)New Cavalry physics for better and more realistic cavalry warfare(Will be more self protected and last longer in battle while they will try to keep distance from the enemy in almost constant moving)
3)Normalised all animations (Cavalry attack swings humanised, projectile animations made quicker per skill and type, etc.)
4)Elephants balanced realistically
5)Revamped a lot of new things

-New Darth Projectile settings
1)New arrow model for peasant/militia archers
2)Together with new EDU settings, all projectile settings are normalised in animation and delays and vary between skill/type of weapon.
3)Guns now fire realistically and do not lag for super timed volleys
4)Offset variances for a lot of projectiles give unique character for each weapon in visuals and effectiveness.

-Included new Darth Formations 2.5
1)Corrected the code so that Darth AI swapping system is utilised correctly for the AI and does not swap to default when it attacks.
2)This new method gives finally the special character for each army and for example you will anticipate historical difficulty for each faction you counter.(Byzantines use deceiving strategies, Turks the usual Nomad technique, Germans the usual concrete delta formation, French the hot headed but effective cavalry charge etc.)
3)Improved the siege code to enhance AI attack bandwith, make it patrol around the castle and attack your weak spots and probably fix the known CA spy/gate bug

-Added GrandViz’s campaign character movement settings
-Added Alpaca’s mod switch FMV’s show fix
-Added Wipeout’s particle effect mod for better fps
-Added a lot more to witness yourself!!!....

Open Source 11 Updated 23/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Corrected all inconsistencies reported by the community and beta team which I thank very much( Siege AI plaza defense, Character movement points too many, Campaign Income too large, peasants etc.)
-Updated the formations to version 3.0. This is a stable version which corrects some flaws detected and maximises the priority preferation of the extra formations with incremental priority system method. Also the techniques involved are securing a determined AI to attack you relentlessly until everyone routs or is destroyed. Passiveness is eradicated.
-Included Darth Violance melee system.(I cannot find words to describe this to you. Just play some battles and watch how melees look. Watch Cavalry vs Cavalry battles and hold your breath, infantry to murder each other in frenzy...the tension is higher than ever! Just do not touch any of my files to see this bcs it envolves many for this.
-Updated the pathfinding mod (Which contributes to the violance and realistic visuals)
-A lot of minor new things...have to rest for a while I hope you like this version now until the next enhancement comes.

Open Source 12 Updated 26/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Increased Mercenary Costs
-Decreased Arab/Eastern upkeep costs to help them build larger armies
-Increased +4 morale for all units except sieges (Together with other settings now battles last longer)
-Updated all the projectile system(Decreased lethality of horse archery to realistic levels, Gunmen improved in close fire barrage etc.)
-Revamped the whole AI_config to various matters that affect gameplay in battle
1)Improved thresholds and responses
2)Improved melee offsets
3)Made AI more careful in its attack approach (although sometimes it does not work better for it but it is visually more humanised)
4)Updated some siege and bridge matters
5)Was forced to remove all the swapping formation system because sometimes the AI got confused and did not react as I wanted to. So I created 2 generic formations to help the AI use a straighforward method of attack than swap to very different formations sometimes. The AI system of M2TW cannot accept for some reasons my techniques I used for RTW. This has to be tested by the beta team and any willing person to see if it actually is better than the formations pack 3.0.
-Radically improved the pathfinding method and together with other settings the chaos of battle is as close to reality as never before. This is good because now the elite units are self depended and respond to the incoming threats even without your orders while the more low level units tend to need reminding in order to advance. The impetuous units can really be a let go force although you must rally them from time to time. Cavalry will be a self depended force. When it attacks it will lethally find the best way to survive, move and kill without you to micromanage it. Maybe they need some orders to retreat if they are too impetuous. Generally the units are not idle as before but tend to quickly respond to threats and move in the whole battlefield like independed men. This makes the battlefield very uneasy to command but maybe easier to observe since you can be more sure about your men's survival ability than reminding them of all the threats. Also this makes battles to become more realistic, that is to give some quick commands and then see the outcome because later everything becomes almost uncontrolled. This may help the human player against the AI in some battles but surely can lose many times because of the loss of cohesion created by the impetus. So try to use the guard mode now as much as possible to tell your men to stick to formation or fight as a brutal barbarian with trust to your men's courage.

This is maybe the most important OS of mine since it changes the whole feel of the battles. Please all try as many battles as you can and tell me your thoughts. Bad and good are equally welcome to help me optimise the new Violence system of DarthMod.

Open Source 13 Updated 27/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Corrected all issues reported yesterday in AI section (thank you all)
-Brought back the 2 default hard coded formations used by CA and use them in manner of internal grouping system. They are declared in configAI but have no role. So they are used internally over my 2 generic formation roles and with other adjustments seems that AI behaves a lot more intelligently and less straightforwardly and predicted.

Open Source 14 Updated 30/1/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Revamped all the battle dynamics again. The evolution of the pathfinding system and its changes affects everything and had to re-balance since there were reasoned reports of idle cavalry. Now with all the new settings involved everything seems to work as planned. The only thing I cannot work out yet is how to remove the strange foot troop radius which makes them sometimes isolated and scattered. But surely this has been enormously enhanced with this new version. What you will notice immediatelly is a faster respone of all troops and a far more mobile and deadly cavalry. All this by not micromanaging but of course if you do not issue orders you will soon see a theater of mob battles but maybe this is what you have hoped for as a barbarian general. The troops will follow their own attack-defend paths even if you do not order them once they get in contact.
-Updated all the campaign system of settlement and database.Now each turn may reveal a bad or good surprise to the player since the new thresholds affect the dynamics of the campaign more enforced. For example if you have no governor in a city it will suffer more and vice versa, corruption will occur more often to feudal castle governors who can rule through fear with more effectiveness. A new conquer of an opposite religion province can surely be a tough experience for complete pacification and surely you must counter the opposition of agents and heretics since you will have bad surprises of religion revolts and betrayal of your backstabing generals who will prefer to take the province from the king if they find the chance and have bad loyalty. Generally the campaign must be thought more than quickly hit the turn button.
I will need extensive testing for this by the beta testers
-Corrected crusade issue where AI found difficulties to reach the target.
-Many minor balance content added.

Open Source 15 Updated 2/2/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Included the final hopefully siege pathfinding fix version to resolve the known CA bug when AI attacks you with ladders or towers(You will notice the AI to storm you like middle earth orcs!). Everything balanced in a way that attack bandwith is not too strong, not too weak and of course no idle stance of ladders any more. That means, AI will use the ladders to the end of the attack. The one ladder usage when men are in short is still existent.
-Enhanced the ferociousness, effectiveness and self-dependence of each unit with pathfinding methods. In fact I use a paradox offset method where max width < min width and vice versa. With minus settings I increase the cohesion of units and their effective vicinity. They will respond more quickly to threats and multiple fronts according to unit's stats and animations.
-With new pathfinding methods and new projectile settings, sieges are now also better and LOS of projectile units is better despite the bug of CA which places them too back from the battlements. They will fire better from the battlements now.
-Balanced siege health of engines and some kind of doors and also have given better fire arc for towers so that they can punish better the besiegers.
-Made diplomacy better and improved the easy "give region" effect.
-Included the excellent gun smoke mod of Headlock&PlasticFigurine. (I eagerly await the full mod for the artillery).

Open Source 16 Updated 8/2/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Enhanced Violence/chaos system of melees and AI determination of attack.
-Improved various things in siege battle warfare
-Improved the traitor issue in campaign (Have to check this because had no time)
-Improved various Pope interactions
-Improved some things in diplomacy (You will be able to achieve easier military passages, alliances, vassals and....mutual attack agreement packs. This will decide your world war later)
-Improved footmen Gun effectiveness
-Made Byzantine Capital (Constantinoupolis) to begin as a trully magnificent town comparing to others in the game. This will surely help them withstand the later turkish onslaught better.

Open Source 17 Updated 11/2/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Included fix of revolving musket ranks.(For better shooting efficiency of guns)
-Included the updated Headlock&PlasticFigurine gun/artillery smoke mod
-Improved efficiency of pikes/polearms/halberds by better reactions
-This is a breakthrough to be tested. I Have checked KnightErrant ingenious formatted file of battle_models.db (thank you KnightErrant) and started to examine how I could edit something there. I changed the called by me "animation vectors" of each unit to more professional values to improve the melee efficiency of all units and also provide variance of skills.
The previous universal melee animation vectors were:
-0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002
And now are by me:

mounted horses
-0.9 0 0 -0.9 2.5 1.5

unshielded infantry
-0.09 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded light infantry
-0.7 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded heavy infantry
-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

polearm infantry
-0.15 0 0 -0.95 1.2 1.2

2handed sword/axe infantry
-0.75 0 0 -0.75 1.2 1.2

and for cavalry mount:

0 0 2345 0 0 0 0 0 0 (was 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0)

These animation vectors are tremendously affecting the melee efficiency of each troop seperately. Do not bombard me with PM questions...I will not answer to them at all for the time being since I have little time and also these values still remain a "mystery" to me solved only by the dark side intuition than a direct algorithm. Still I have a theory in this which will describe in the future.
But nevertheless the dark side has helped me to find these "proper" values and now you will not only fight better and more prolonged battles (Did not change any of other stats from OS16 and you will see a big difference) but also I may have corrected the known shield bug. Now you will visually see each troop to efficiently block hits with his polearm, sword and of course shield which previously had too small effective pitch radius as it seemed and so this is why it never or seldomly triggered. The beta team and the community will use its time to tell me if I am actually true in this and I provide the files not only to enhance DarthMod experience but for all modders to use my file \SEGA\Medieval II Total War\data\unit_models\battle_models.db enclosed.
I provide also the back up with name backbattle_models.db for you to revert easily.
Please urgently play as many battles as you can and tell me if you are pleased.(Heroic melees with lots of blocks and attack moves, more efficient and moving cavalry etc.)

Open Source 18 Updated 13/2/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Inserted my new animation vector modding which improves battle efficiency of units and creates a complex armour upgrade system with a non-straightforward method.(Only known bugs in this are the wrong torch offsets which I may correct in the future)
For modders:This is the same standalone breakthrough2 file I uploaded yesterday so do not panic and preserve your changes.

The new base parameters are:

mounted horses
-0.9 0 0 -0.9 2.5 1.3

General mounted horses
-0.9 0 0 -0.9 2.5 0.5

unshielded infantry
-0.09 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded light infantry
-0.7 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded heavy infantry
-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

polearm infantry
-0.15 0 0 -0.95 1.2 1.2

2handed sword/axe infantry
-0.75 0 0 -0.75 1.2 1.2

and for cavalry mount:

0 0 45 0 0 0 0 0 0

and for elephant mount

0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0

And the armour upgrade system is for example:

I take again for example these vectors:
-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

armour ug1

-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 0.8

armour ug2

-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 0.6

armour ug3

-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 0.4

The theory behind this may be totally different but it works as I want so better to accept it as is. Open to hear from anyone anything he can find to enhance it.

-New special formation command system (used in my old RTW formations) forcing phalanxes/infantry to behave properly, generals to stop being hotheaded and support the infantry coherent approach. You have to see this. For example voulgier has awfully slow phalanx animation making them completely useless for the AI. Now the AI will swap to unphalanx to be able to walk together with the vanguard and then swap timely to phalanx and defend itself when the melee starts. The AI tactics become more cautious and clever although they somewhat lose their barbaric feeling.
-Made mounted crossbowmen have less accuracy so not too unbalancing
-Changed some siege AI things

Open Source 19 Updated 16/2/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Changed a lot of things in total AI manipulation. Have completed the new method of infantry/phalanx correct AI manipulation. Have inserted new thresholds of AI army. The AI army will use better the infantry center and the cavalry as satellites or devastating frontal charges. Wll more effectively use reserves and fix a steady line of battle. General unit is a lot more conservative and uses strategic positions to command the army. Hopefully, siege AI is also improved. Do not tell me about the spy problem of gates because it is not my fault (As I read in some posts around from fellow co-modders) and tried hard to find the solution for it but hopefully the patch will resolve it. I have no more tools in my hands.
Also unit cohesion charges are enormously improved.
-Adapted my innovative pathfinding system to my new animation vector parameters. As a result = more ferocious melees, more effective AI.
-Updated the siege pathfinding method for optimisation of ladders/siege ladders.
-Improved rewards of guilds
-Made late plate armour units to have more armour variance from other troops thus making them (Together with the animation vector parameters) trully magnificent and effective in battle.
-Corrected bug where new Constantinoupolis enhanced parameters I gave prevented it to expand to huge_city.

Open Source 20 Updated 19/2/2007

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-Added my proposed Shield Fix idea until the patch arrives for DM.
It does the following:
Preserve all stats and increase the melee defense value and only this with the shield stat value. So the arrow defense will still remain and in melee the minus shield will affect the total defense by zero.
It fits more sense to me that this proposed so far...what do you say?

For example: Armour=A, Melee Defence=M, Shield Defense=S

Proposed Fix: A,M+S,S (With shield arrow defense and balance of total defense)

Previous Fix so far is: A+S/2,M+S/2,0 (With no shield arrow defense and general balance of defense)

I am just afraid of autocalc for this...nothing else.

Removed my previous idea for shield fix which was too ambitious to work. I thank you all for the quick and helpful feedback.

-Balanced some things in EDU
-Improved diplomacy negotiations in some aspects
-Made AI ceasefire to last longer

You can apply any new OS above 1.3D and previous OS and you can continue your save games. If you have modded yourself DarthMod I have no responsibility for possible non-compatibility.

-There is also an optional file of wipeout's which corrects mod switch's usage of historic battles and reverts to vanilla's Campaign slow default movement parameters

-Added seperate battle_config.xml which improves my siege/ladder pathfinding mod. Was Fran's idea and I thank him.(ALL THOSE WHO HAVE DOWNLOADED re-DOWNLOAD as of today 28/2/2007)

---Current DM Lite 1.3 D includes OS 20 so no need to install over it---

But the evolution of the game itself to version 1.2 and with the new fixes of the patch, the game was more than a challenge to continue to develop mods for it.

What made this mod popular is the 99% targeting of myself to the gameplay and AI of the game. My main purpose is to genuinely enhance the game that CA has in great effort created but left undone. Now the new version of the mod is ready to prove once more that my efforts were reasoned and with the help of my valuable teammates, it will release a new era in the gameplay of it.

Synoptic Contents of DarthMod M2TW 1.4 click show to read

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

OS21 for 1.2

Finally I upload my first work for patch 1.2. Will need your testing in order to finalize the battle system so as to concentrate to other gameplay parameters such as the campaign AI.
Currently I include only adjustments that have to do with the field battle AI. Siege warfare is not altered bcs I need to know what CA has finally improved. Test some siege to tell me. Indirectly it is affected since melees are included of course in siege. Also I do include my balance for walls for epic endurance of sieges.

In short:
-Balanced Battle system and transferred at best the settings of DarthMod 1.3D
-Everything is there: Darth Mass, Fire Delays, animation offsets, stats, etc.
to give you the best feeling in battles
-Transferred a lot of my AI techniques and melee thresholds. You will witness better AI and more dramatic battles.
-The passive feeling of battles that came with 1.2 is now eradicated. You will feel the realistic dynamics of battles more. Medieval Cavalry will rule as it was supposed to do, responses of troops are better etc, loss of cohesion is occasional and important etc.
-Preserved my Darth projectile variance settings. CA has produced a similar variant of new arrow models such I had in DarthMod 1.3D but I preffered mine and also new better settings for realistic trajectories.
-The animation vector technique of mine is there and optional for you. It is improving the melees but only handicap is the wrong torch offset. Your decision...(Included in OS21 for 1.2\Medieval II Total War\data\unit_models\battle_models.db)
-Fixed the venetian archer wrong model that was forgotten to be fixed again...
-Headlock's smoke mod is also there
-I removed every past file that had to do with Darth campaign settings AI in order to test more. You must play with vanilla at these first moments of development.
-bla...bla...Test, play, enjoy...tell me!

OS22 for 1.2 (3/6/2007)

A combination of the following:
-New advanced Darth stats for cavalry balance + phalanx mass
-New Darth mass
-New Battle config
-New AI battle config
-New responses etc.
Results to :=
-Battles as close to reality as never before by seeing the dynamics of the troops to create gaps, defensive blocks as cavalry creates havoc in the formations and runs through them by chopping around the idle targets. The late troops of halberds and Pikes units will be the only solution to prevent this as Medieval heavy cavalry will rule the plains as they did in History.
Still, cavalry will be vulnerable if it gets stacked and much more vulnerable to projectile attack and also they will not "splatter" the footmen as before but more disrupting them and kill or rout them by creating the necessary loss of cohesion. All cavalry has been balanced to make Heavy cavalry powerful all around, Lancers to create the gaps, Cavalry archers to be always on the move and afar etc.)
-Also you will notice prolonged battles and far more better responses of AI group defending
-Better realistic visuals.(You will forget the CA default of concrete blocks of men fighting around caged in their hexes....everything is alive now)
-All inconsistencies reported to me were corrected

Test this and report any urgent inconsistency as DM 1.4 is very near to its completion.

There are no CTDs related to any OS at least with 99.9% probability

OS23 for 1.2 (4/6/2007)

Urgently I upload this to correct all the inconsistencies reported

-Changed mass, EDU and some AI files to clearly correct the balance and dynamics a lot more.
"The cavalry charges are not only more powerful but you will notice how much the whole battlefield is transforming to a total havoc, uncontrollable for latter orders. Just make your decisions and see them winning or losing...very difficult to take them back!"
-Most urgent inconsistencies corrected..I believe...keep feeding me with info to provide you the best DarthMod ever!

Cannot write a lot right now....just test.

Some may say...this is MADNESS! NO....THIS IS DARTHMOD!!!

OS24 for 1.2 (6/6/2007)

Urgently I upload this to correct all the inconsistencies reported

-I have put a lot of effort to re-balance the new innovation of dynamics. Seems to me now like it is almost perfect. I corrected too many things to mention (Balances, attack ratios, masses, phalanxes, defenses,formations...etc.)
Just pls test and tell me
-I forgot to mention that I have heavily modded many parameters of AI and now I have enhanced them. You will notice AI to like to "Line" defend you and extent according to human actions. AI will like to outmaneuver you in fixed lines and use its extra troops to flank you. The general will be a lot more careful...a lot changed finally...just check and feel.

A lot may say now...this is MADNESS! NO....THIS IS DARTHMOD!!!

OS25 for 1.2 (8/6/2007)

-Enhanced phalanxes
-Enhanced AI in battle manipulation
-Enhanced skirmishing totally
-Corrected some skeleton issues which resulted in overpowering jinettes etc.
-Inserted almost all my diplomacy/campaign AI war pack included in DM 1.3 D. Only some minor changes due to new engine where adapted
-Included Border Reiver map and many new modifications of him which will analyze further below

The Border Reiver is a special new contributor to DarthMod. His help is more than valuable and he is completely responsible for the new map of DarthMod which developed it all by himself.
His work is explained in this link below
DARTHMOD MAP HISTORY

But not only this...he is the developer of the heraldry mod for DarthMod compining the work of his and Rawghi
HERALDRY MOD FOR DARTHMOD HISTORY
It is not fully ready but it is fully functional.

And again....he is the current developer of historic events for DarthMod by taking permission from Tokus to inlcude his customised Historical Events from the Deus Lo Vult mod of Repman.. You can check and add ideas below:
HISTORIC EVENTS FOR DARTHMOD

I pronounce him by now....Darth Reiver!

In short....

You can expect from DarthMod the following:

-Superb battle dynamics almost close to reality
-Far Better AI than this proposed by CA in battles
-Far better campaign balance and campaign AI
-New more sophisticated map to provide better challenge to the human player
-A forum to be dedicated to the fans and their valuable feedback here in TWcenter....


Brace yourselves before you download and play it for it may become too addictive for your free time....

Special Thanks go to :

-NorbaK (Was a supporter in the starting moments of DarthMod M2TW and convinced me to continue together with other people that enjoyed my mods)
-Wipeout140 (Old supporter of DarthMod since RTW-BI)
-Headlock (Current DarthMod rotation beta team leader and creator of the gun smoke mod used in DarthMod)
-Prof from whom I use the majority of the screenshots and all the edited by me (The hilarious yes...) screens are generated from his creations (And 2 from The Border Reiver)
-Russ Mitchell (The historian of DarthMod from whom I wait his valuable resources for future evolution)

I thank all the people who donated up to now to DarthMod and forced me to work for it....with fury!
Visit my page here http://www.myspace.com/thomadisnick if you wish to participate in this!

I thank all of you the fans who press me to do these things....
I thank all TWcenter staff who continue to support the community.

And last but not least....I thank Creative Assembly UK/Australia for creating this magnificent game in a way that modders can "play" with it.

Forgive me for the rather humorous approach I have for the promo of DarthMod but....I am in a good mood and it shows

So wait for the release until then....






[/COLOR]

[DARTH VADER]

The first upload is away!

[DARTH VADER]

I will soon upload the installer including the hotfix and the bat.file click shortcut problem. So do not upload to anymore servers.(To DarthMod moderators)

These problems are very minor so you can all continue to download. Once I upload the new installation package again, you can install the fixed over the first one. So no worries...just wait.

[DARTH VADER]

***URGENT*** UPDATED THE INSTALLER (You can update with OS26 yourself or if you are unsure re-download and install over your first DarthMod installation)

[DARTH VADER]

Uploading DarthMod_M2TW 1.4A

It says...5 hours Filefront = very busy!

[DARTH VADER]

I have reset my modem...it had problems to raise speed.



ETA = 1hour

[DARTH VADER]

Uploaded...was away sorry ..going to bed

[DARTH VADER]

Preparing...

[DARTH VADER]

Uploaded! Attack it!

[DARTH VADER]

Magic file for the infidels...and the DarthMod fans.

[DARTH VADER]

Update 2.

Fixes more.
Removes the idiotically slow animation of 2H swordsmen
Improves more projectiles, especially crossbows.

[DARTH VADER]

Thanks to the feedback of the valuable Darth Beta Teammates Naimad and Tiberiu_R you get this magic fix 3...

Improves elegantly:
-Projectile effectiveness vs cavalry
-Gun effectiveness
-Light Cavalry will not be able to charge so violently (Since you asked)

[DARTH VADER]

Darth Magic enhancement 4 uploaded:

I decided to prematurely release it since I have been notified for some important issues and inconsistencies so did not like this to be preserved:

-Updated all formation AI system (Fixed 2 bugs, enhanced AI effectiveness, better & sophisticated starting formations for both human + AI)
-Balanced better the melee parameters
-Given back original animations for 2h swordsmen and balanced their stats

The target was to keep your save games compatible and still have better battle experience. Other modders who use my files should immediatelly update them with magic 4.

Why they are magic? Because with little changes they change a lot of things in the chaotic DarthMod base system. Use them at your discretion and do not mod them if you do not know what they are supposed to do in the whole balance of all files.