4 Seasons 3.1

[uanime5]

In this mod 9 fantasy factions do battle for dominance of a fantasy world.
The 3.0 version of this mod can be downloaded from one of these links:
http://www.mediafire.com/?5rfhaab2an16rn6
http://www.gamefront.com/files/23024710/seasons_7z

The 3.1 patch is at the bottom of this post.

NB: this mod requires the official M2TW 1.2 patch or higher or it will not work. The 1.2 patch can be downloaded here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1545

Features

• Magic: there are 6 magic types; fire, earth, wind, snow, water, and plague magic. Fire magic can burn siege equipement and plague magic makes other units ill. If I could add water magic I could make an Avatar mod (blue flames don't look quite the same). Though the 2.2 version's snow magic is a good start.
• Castles and cities have been merged. Large and huge cities now become Fortresses and Citadels, respectively.
• Undead: undead units will never rout though they are weaker than their living counterparts.
• New units: this mod now contains new units from the Santa Invasion, Blue Lotus (RTW), and Female Soldier models mods.

To demonstrate these new features I have made a Youtube video to about this mod. It can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBxxjcAUCFs

Locations

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Mamluk Desert (Mamluk Dynasty)


Pian Plains (Holy Empire of Lignarius)


Santa's Tundra (Santa's Kingdom)


Silvan Forest (Veneficus Empire)


Tumulosian Hills (Animositans)


Former Zenchen Empire (Titanocene)

Factions

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Animositans (Light Blue)

• Based on the Aztecs, with some Blue Lotus units and my undead units
• Advantages: undead, great unit diversity, and earth magic
• Faction Goal: conquer the Titanocene dicarbonyl and the Holy Empire of Lignarius

Furries Jaguar Warriors, Boar Spearmen, Bear Warriors (last two are from Blue Lotus)

The Holy Empire of Lignarius (White)

• Based on the Papal States
• Advantages: knights that can use fire and air magic
• Faction Goal: to defeat the Veneficus Empire and Animositans

Knights of the Holy Annunciation, Dragon, and Seraphim.

Mamluk Dynasty (Yellow)

• Based on Egypt
• Advantages: air magic cavalry (non-flying)
• Faction Goal: to conquer the the Titanocene dicarbonyl, Zenchen Shogunate, and Silvian Alliance

Mamluks, Saiva (not available for this faction in 3.0 version), Royal Mamluks

Santa's Kingdom (Red)

• Based on the Santa faction from the Santa Invasion mod
• Advantages: technology, snow magic, and snowmen
• Faction Goal: to conquer the Holy Empire of Lignarius, Veneficus Empire, and the Silvian Alliance

Santa (Santa Invasion)


Snowmen (Santa Invasion)

Titanocene dicarbonyl (Purple)

• Based on my Titanocene faction
• Advantages: most powerful units in this mod.
• Faction Goals: to conquer all the cities and destroy Zenchen Shogunate, the Animositans, and the Mamluk Dynasty

Titanocene soldiers burn samurai

Silvian Alliance (Dark Blue)

• Based on Lithuania
• Advantages: axemen and ghosts
• Faction Goal: to conquer the Veneficus Empire

Reapers

Valkyrian Principality (Purple)

• Based on the RainyXp's Female Soldier Model mod
• Advantages: female soldiers (beautiful and cute), armoured soldiers, and armoured female soldiers
• Faction Goal: to conquer the Titanocene dicarbonyl and Animositans

Nekomimi Musketeers


Death Knights


Paladins

Veneficus Empire (Black)

• Based on my Mythological faction, with some Blue Lotus units
• Advantages: summon demons and mages can use fire, earth, wind, snow, and plague magic.
• Faction Goal: to defeat the Silvian Alliance and The Holy Empire of Lignarius

Wang Lian, Sohei (human), Noh Demons from Blue Lotus


Red and Green Dragons (based on Blue Lotus units)


Tempest (blue), Pestilent (green), Pyro (red), and Terra (grey) mages with their masters (based on Blue Lotus units). In the 2.2 version the Pestilent mages are replaced with the white Glacies mages.


Magic (the fire magic is clearly visable)

Zenchen Shoganate (Green)

• Based on the Japanese faction from the Blue Lotus mod
• Advantages: Samurai and Saiva
• Faction Goal: to conquer the Titanocene dicarbonyl

No Dachi (Blue Lotus mod)

Additional screenshots by oldmanpoo:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Installation Guide

Pre-installation
This mod also requires the offical 1.2 patch for M2TW, it can be downloaded here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=1545

Installation
0) Download this mod (seasons.7z) from one of the links below and unpack it using 7zip (http://www.7-zip.org/). This should give you a 'seasons lite' folder that contains a 'data' and 'seasons' folder, and the seasons.bat and seasons.cfg files.
http://www.mediafire.com/?5rfhaab2an16rn6
http://www.gamefront.com/files/23024710/seasons_7z

1) Go to the Medieval II Total War directory (default is C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War).

2) Copy and paste the seasons.bat, seasons.cfg, and 'seasons' folders from the 'seasons lite' folder into the Medieval II Total War directory (default location 'C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War'). These files form most of the mod.

3) Copy and paste the 'data' folder in the 'seasons lite' folder into the Medieval II Total War directory, you will be asked if you wish to overwrite the vanilla 'data' folder, click yes. This will add the shared.sd and strategy.sd into the 'Medieval II Total War\data\ui' folder.

If these files are not put in the correct folder the mod will not display correctly. However if other mods need their own shared.sd and strategy.sd these files may prevent them working. If you other mods do not display correctly try deleting these files (there's a spare copy of them in the 'Medieval II Total War\seasons\data\ui' folder).

4) To play this mod double click on the 'seasons.bat' file and select the campaign you want to play.

5) To make the 'seasons.bat' file into a destop shortcut right click on it, select 'Send To' on the pop-up menu, then select 'Desktop (create shortcut)'.

Additional Files
If the sound does not work copy the 'Medieval II Total War/data/sound' folder to the 'seasons/data' folder.

Other mods

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The following mods were used in this mod:

Banner & Symbol MOD (joedreck) : gives all vanilla factions new banners and symbols
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=93253

Blue Lotus (hoggy): this RTW mod adds demons, monks, and magic
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=65798

Blood, Broads, & Bastards v2.1 (dearmad) : gives factions generals and leader more traits
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...do=file&id=955

burrek's Blood and Dirt v0.91 (burrek) : replaces the blood and dirt overlays
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1078

Byg's Grim Reality 2.0 (Byg): character and supply traits (soldiers may munity if you spend too long in enemy terriory).
http://twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=106060

Crimson Tide 4.2 (Magus) : adds blood, burns, sand, snow, and dirt to the soldiers
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=2042

Diverse Loading Screen 2.1 (apkairan) : adds 60 more loading screen to this mod
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1595

Darker nights Updated (ziher) : makes the nights darker
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1155

Female Soldier Models mod (rainyxp) : add Valkyrie units
http://game.ali213.net/thread-2066856-1-1.html

Highways mod (selenius4tsd): add highways
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1125

MapMod: Trees, Textures, Sea v1.7 (Charge) : improves strat map appearence
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=153955

New Lusted Campaign AI (Lusted): improves AI's decision making and diplomacy.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=163842

New Lusted Battle AI (Lusted): improves AI's fighting ability, conduct during sieges, and unit formation.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=163839

New strat models for castles (Agart) : changes the appearence of castles on the strat map
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1993

Real Combat 1.3 (Point Blank): gives units realistic attack values (as much as possible)
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=115939

Realistic Walls and Siege Engines for UAI 1.6 (Raptor_341) : makes walls tougher, so sieges are more difficult.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1728

Santa Invasion (Csatádi): adds Santa, Krampusz, and snowmen
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=137341

Titanocene invasion (uanime5): adds alien units and culture
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1459

Total War Mythology (uanime5): adds Mythological faction and undead
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1323

Also I'd like to thank:
SigniferOne for helping me get my religions working
alpaca for helping me add the Titanocene culture
ErrantKnight for helping me get the unit and mount mesh files to display correctly.

3.1 Patch

The '4seasons _3.1_patch.7z' file will upgrade the 3.0 version of this mod to the 3.1 version. This version gives the Animositans a new language (native), fixes some language problems with the Titanocene, fixes some unit problems, and adds resources to the campaign map so there is more trade.

To update download the '4seasons _3.1_patch.7z' attached to this post and unpack it. This will give you a folder called 'seasons patch'. In the 'seasons patch' folder there are several files and folders. Copy and past these files and folders to the 'seasons\data' folder (default location 'C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\seasons\data'). Overwrite any exisiting files.


Future Improvements

1) To improve the unit cards and skins of the new units, and improve the appearance of the undead.
2) To add more native factions.