Discussion and Announcements

[killmore]

killmore:
(3) That is strange because their morale is 12, disciplined, which is pretty good. Was this a one off thing or does it happen often? If it was one time then it might have been due to unusual factors like bad general traits, exhaustion, or something like that.

I only saw them in action twice. First time I attacked tho... with war band and falxmen right beside hypar... they were in the "periferal" combat (meaning only some were fighting) for short amount of time and paniced quickly at the same time as tho...

Second time they paniced while being close to my front lines and under archer fire. Some other units might have paniced just before that.

Maybe I am just lucky and they got caught up in the panic of other troops?

[Red_Russian13]

I'm having all sorts of problems.

I don't know what happened really. I changed the Spartan hoplite skin and now when I hit end turn, I CTD. Every time. I changed it back to the stock skin, and I got through one turn, but if I'm attacked at all (seiged, blockaded, etc) it will CTD. I haven't attacked anything yet, but when the Egyptians sally, the battle will load, but CTD before it gets to the battlefield.

This is rather strange, as I've been playing since just before I told you I was good to go. I can send whatever files you need, just let me know how and what. Wanna get back into it cause this Greek campaign is great.

Appreciate your help.

[DimeBagHo]

killmore: I think you probably just got lucky, but let me know if if you see more of this. They ought to fight it out longer than that.

Red_Russian13: The most likely cause is that the game is failing to find one or more files when it goes into a battle. First, you should try using -show_err. That might tell you what is missing. If you don't already know how to use this, here are some instructions:

1. Right click on the XGM shortcut on your desktop and select "properties".
2. Add -show_err to the target line so that it looks something like this:

"C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -mod:xgm -show_err

Now you should get an error message when the game CTDs. Second, if you made any changes to text files, you can e-mail the files to me at dimebagwhore@yahoo.com . Finally, did you make your changes in Rome - Total War\data or in Rome - Total War\xgm\data\? And which files did you replace?

[rawghi]

Thank you DimeBagHo! I'll try to convert it as you tell me
The only problem is that when I'm home... I can't stop playing with it!!!

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 3.3.4 is available for download.

You can get it here.

The main changes are:
-Macedon symbol changed to Vergina Sun
-Macedon and Seleucids can now build temple of Poseidon
-Script added to spawn GCS subfaction leader for Syracuse
-GCS can now build temple of Artemis
-All Roman factions can now recruit Arcani
-Epic Stone Walls (mostly) removed
-Hidden AI General bonus trait added (new campaigns only)
-All factions playable except Senate and Slaves
-Minor UI changes

The new banners and symbols for Macedon are based on the ones made by Kos007 with just some small changes to make them fit in with the style of the vanilla symbols for other factions. Allowing Macedon and the Seleucids to build temples of Poseidon makes it possible for them to build Hepteres and Deceres. I removed Epic Stone walls just because personally I don't like they way they look . The AI General bonus gives all AI generals 2 command and 2 management points. I have also made it so that all AI generals have about a 20% chance of being able to fight night battles, even if they don't have sufficient command stars.

Nothing to do with the update, but worth noting anyway - I have been using Archer's Skymod with XGM and it (1) works fine, and (2) looks great. To install it with XGM you should install XGM first and then copy his RTW 1.3 files into xgm/data. The sky mod is here.

[dark_legion]

Hey Dimebag, have you seen these greek skins by hades? they are at http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1&page=1&pp=20
i think they are pretty good, maybe you could try to ask him permission to incorperate them into xgm.
keep up the good work

[bestantreas]

Yes, I agree with the dark_legion, you should ask his permission to add them to your mod, they are very good models, your mod will improved a lot!

[DimeBagHo]

I try to stay pretty close to the style of vanilla RTW, and unfortunately Hadès skins just look too good to fit in with that style. I might talk to him about putting together an XGM skin pack though.

[killmore]

CTD... with error

On load of saved game. Do you want me to send a file? Possibly happened because Brutti faction got destroyed (last city of theirs just rebelled)

Can't play any of my last saves...

[DimeBagHo]

Yep, send it to: dimebagwhore@yahoo.com

[Whiskeyjack]

Hey Dimebag I have really enjoyed playing this mod, just a couple of suggestions:

1. Would it be possible to remove longpike attribute from phalanx's and just leave them with spear(imo long pikes are too long and short pikes are to short) this should help the ai when fighting against human controlled phalanx's and doesn't seem to hamper the ai when using phalanx's.
2. Would you consider adding phalanx pikemen to carthage and removing phalanx from poeni infantry.
3. Regarding spearmen in general, they are far to weak for a few reasons. Generally their stats are poor, they have spear attribute(which reduces effectiveness vs infantry) and they have lower hit strength, imo it would be better to remove spear attribute and give them a mount effect bonus vs cavalry and also buff their stats a little(probalby defence skill would be best).This would improve their performance vs infantry(particularly romans) and still make them effective vs cavalry, though obviously their attack should be a little lower than swordsmen to balance it out.
4. Lastly morale needs increased by about +10, units will still rout at that level but at the moment units rout almost immedeatly after making contact with enemy.

Apoligies if this seems harsh, its not meant to be I just think with a few adjustments this could be one of the best mods out there.

P.S Thanks for adding in Pontic legionaires, that always bugged me.

[DimeBagHo]

LOL - Whiskeyjack, you damn near described the next version of XGM. It should be out in a day or so. Here's what I have done:

(1) The long_pike attribute is gone. All of the phalanx units now use the hoplite style pike, but they are all described as Macedonian style phalangites. To reflect relative differences in wealth and manpower, Carthage and the GCS will have smaller better armoured units, while the Successor States will have larger lighter units.
(2) That's possible. At the moment Libyans are non-phalanx spear, while Poeni are phalangites, but I might switch that around. I'm thinking about making Sacred Band into hypaspists as well.
(3) Done, more or less. All the spear units had a much lower kill rate than other infantry units ( 0.75 vs 1.0 in vanilla, 0.66 vs 0.9 in XGM). I have increased their kill rate to 0.74 and reduced their spear bonus from spear_bonus_8 to spear_bonus_6. The net effect should be that they are more effective against infantry, and about the same against cavalry.
(4) I have increased morale by another +2 for certain units. I might take a look at increasing it further across the board. I haven't seen a lot of insta routes, but I have seen units routing when they really should put up a better fight.

[DimeBagHo]

While I was working on the latest round of changes I also found a couple of potential CTD bugs. They both affect slave units (Egyptian style generals and Greek Thureophoroi). I have attached a fixed descr_model_battle.txt to this post. Just extract the zip file and copy descr_model_battle.txt into data/xgm.

You can also just wait for the next version of XGM if these bugs haven't caused any problems for you.


*edit* Attachment removed.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 3.4 is available for download.

You can get it here.

The main changes are:
-All pike formations now use the same pike length
-Revised Carthaginian recruiting, added mercenaries and levy pike
-Added Levy Pikemen to Thrace
-Hypaspists and Sacred Band now use spears/swords
-Added Forest and War Elephants to Numidia
-Changed Cathaginian starting position
-Changed Britons starting position.

[Carach]

ur mod continues to be my most played R:TW mod dime keep up the good work.

[Werner]

Hi!

I have been playing XGM for a while now, and I really enjoy it. Great job Dime.

You have changed hoplite to phalangite (sp?), but I like hoplite more, so what changes, and in which files, do I have to make to change the names back to hoplite? I have basically no experience in modding. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me.

And again, this is a great mod.

Thanks.

[DimeBagHo]

Werner: If you just want to change the name, the file you want is: xgm/data/text/export_units.txt

Here is a sample entry:

{greek_hoplite_elite}	Armoured Phalangites

{greek_hoplite_elite_descr}
Armoured phalangites are an elite among Greek soldiery...

{greek_hoplite_elite_descr_short}
Armoured phalangites are...

Don't touch anything inside the {} curly brackets. You will be pretty safe if you just do a search/replace for phalangites/hoplites.

[dark_legion]

Hi,
Im just wondering if you can get rid of the land bridges in xgm because i dont really think they look right and how can you change the helmet of sacred band and armoured hoplites/phalangites back to the full one where you cant see their faces. Also when is the next version coming out because this is such a great mod : )

Oh yeah one more thing, is the sacred band meant to be hyspapists? because when i start a battle they are automatically the phalanx formation except with shorter spears and they dont overlap their shileds unless you tell them to form a phalnx which they are already in one. They kind of remind me off Gothic Spearmen in BI except with shorter spears.

Keep up the good work

[DimeBagHo]

dark_legion:

Getting rid of the land bridges is easy. Run the XGM installer again, and then, before you start a new campaign (or load an old one), delete the following files:

xgm\Data\world\maps\base\map_heights.hgt
xgm\Data\world\maps\base\map_regions.tga
xgm\Data\world\maps\base\map_ground_types.tga

Switching the Armoured Hoplite model and skin is a little more difficult. I think this should work.

1. Delete these files:

xgm\Data\models_unit\textures\UNIT_GREEK_ELITE_HOPLITE_CARTHAGE.TGA.DDS
xgm\Data\models_unit\textures\UNIT_GREEK_ELITE_HOPLITE_GREEK.TGA.DDS

2. Open xgm\Data\descr_model_battle.txt and change the greek_armoured_hoplite entry so that it looks like this:

type				greek_armoured_hoplite
skeleton			fs_slow_spearman, fs_slow_swordsman
indiv_range			40
texture				carthage, data/models_unit/textures/unit_greek_elite_hoplite_carthage.tga
texture				greek_cities, data/models_unit/textures/unit_greek_elite_hoplite_greek.tga
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_greek_hoplite_elite_high.cas, 15
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_greek_hoplite_elite_med.cas, 30
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_greek_hoplite_elite_low.cas, 40
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_greek_hoplite_elite_lowest.cas, max
model_sprite		greek_cities, 60.0, data/sprites/greek_cities_greek_armoured_hoplite_sprite.spr ; old
model_sprite		carthage, 60.0, data/sprites/carthage_greek_armoured_hoplite_sprite.spr ; old
model_tri			400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f

As for the Sacred band, yes they are supposed to be like Hypaspists. Historically I don't think they existed in the game period, but when they existed they fought like hoplites rather than phalangites.

[dark_legion]

Ok thanks for that, ive just noticed one more thing too. Hypapists are the same as sacred band! is it possible for me to change all hypapists and sacred band units into swordsmen/spearmen/javeliners?