Razor.God's Submod - v3.6 (for FATW 3.2)

[20ninescene]

Razor.God's Submod

Introduction

I made a little submod for The Fourth Age Total War: Dominion of Men; my main goal is to make battles much more epic. It's balanced for huge unit size (but also playable on large unit size). Besides more epic battles this mod also offers some other features such as graphical enhancements and several bug fixes.

Changelog

v3.x v3.6 New features -New alpine vegetation. v3.5 New features -New desert ground textures. v3.4 New features -added some rocks, shrubs and palm trees on the battle map in Far-Harad. v3.3 New features -Added cypress trees in Near Harad. -Added larch trees to infertile grasslands. Bug fixes and tweaks -Removed two buggy tree models v3.2 New features -More texture variety for rocks in Mordor. -Added a new ambient building. Bug fixes and tweaks -Fixed cliffs in historical battles. -removed lakes from Mordor. -Made several adjustments to rocks, cliffs, boulders and other geographical features on battle maps in Mordor. v3.1 New features -Added battle map features from RTR8, these include bogs, cliffs, boulders, etc. -New terrain texture for the mountains around Mordor. Bug fixes and tweaks -Removed the deep lakes because of collision problems. -Multiplied shield defence of all infantry units by 1.5. v3.0.x v3.0.3 Removed features - HDR effects are not included in this release. v3.0.2 Bug fixes and tweaks -Assigned the correct texture to the winter version of a larch tree model. v3.0.1 New features -Several new campaign map tree models v3.0 New features -Improved strategy- and battle map vegetation. -New unit: stone throwing ballistas for dale. Bug fixes & tweaks -fixed several problems with sound effects. -tweaked projectile trails. -reverted supply system because mine didn't work. -fixed one skybox which was not properly rendered. v2.x v2.3.x v2.3.1 Bug fixes & tweaks - Tweaked opinion of liege mechanic. - Fixed a text bug. v2.3 New features - New, more realistic night skies. Bug fixes & tweaks - Reduced volume of warg sound effects. - Fixed troll sound effects. v2.2 Bug fixes & tweaks - Tweaked supply and opinion of liege trait systems. v2.1 New features - Included version 1.2 of 'The Heirs of Vidugavia' (other FATW submod). v2.0 New features - Included sounds from third age total war (including vanilla M2TW sounds). - New arrows. - New clouds. Removed features - HDR effects are not included in this release. Bug fixes & tweaks: - Slightly buffed health bonuses to compensate for larger population and unit sizes. - Many sound fixes. - Fixed a bug which causes that sometimes two suns are being visible in the sky. v1.x v1.6.x: v1.6.1: Bug fixes & tweaks: - Buffed morale of berserkers. v1.6: New features: - Included 'The Heirs of Vidugavia v1.1' (other FATW submod). - Added several bonuses in friendly territory. - Overhauled projectiles and projectile effects. - Improved battle map ground texture blending. - Reduced movement rates in forests, swamps and mud. - Added unit state info bars. - New animated dust. Bug fixes & tweaks: - Made several tweaks to the supply system. - Tweaked radii of horses, elves and men of Far Harad. - Fixed dust storms. v1.5: New features: - Slightly increased movement rate of emissaries and scouts. - Added optional HDR effects. Bug fixes & tweaks: - Increased BattleSurgery bonus for elves from 1 to 10 - I assume that the value was intended to be 10 since 1 has almost no effect. - Made the arctic texture less repeating. v1.4: New features: - New sapping texture. - Improved campaign map textures. - New charring texture. - New dust texture. Bug fixes & tweaks: - Corrected a typo in descr_battle_map_movement_modifiers.txt . v1.3: Bug Fixes & tweaks: - Troops now become fat and lazy only after +/- 10 years of inactivity and only when they are inside a settlement. - Fixed supply system for the AI. - Tweaked fatigue system. - Corrected physical radius and height of several units according to model and skeleton. v1.2: Bug Fixes & tweaks: - Deleted the old supply triggers. - Nerfed supply bonus for elven realm. v1.1: New Features: - Improved supply system. - Supplies affect the healing of wounds. Bug Fixes & tweaks: - Tweaked movement on the campaign map. - Further tweaked population growth to compensate huge unit size and overpopulation. v1.0: New features: - This mod is balanced for huge unit size. - Climate specific movement modifiers. - Battles last longer. - Supply works now in two directions: too well supplied troops can become fat and lazy and become less effective in combat. - The hue of the campaign map textures depend on the fertility of the land (it's only a subtle difference). - Renamed ground types. Bug fixes & tweaks: - Missile infantry are nerfed against cavalry in close combat. - The fatigue system of RTW is fixed via a workaround. - Captain's can't get children while in enemy territory as it should be. - Missiles are nerfed.

Download link (latest version)

v3.6 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5gd_tIk3hZnTVZzN1pITTZQYVk/view?usp=sharing note: HDR effects are removed from since version 2.0, however you can bring them back by installing this version on top of a version that has HDR effects. I accidentially added HDR effects to V3.0, v3.0.1 and v3.0.2 . If you wish to bring back the HDR effects, then install v3.6 on top of v3.0.2 . Save-game compatibility v3.6 is save-game compatible is compatible with Razor.God's submod v3.0 and later DISCLAIMER: This submod is my work and as a result the Fourth Age Total War team can't provide technical support for it.

Older versions

v3.x v3.5 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing v3.4 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing v3.3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing v3.2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing v3.1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing v3.0.3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing v3.0.2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing Note: I accidentially included HDR effects in this version. Due to the HDR effects you'll get a black screen with green letters in the upper left corner when you launch the game. But don't panic; you will just have to alt-tab out and in again to get to the normal loading screen. It's always possible to disable HDR effects later by deleting d3d8.dll and enbseries.ini; both files are located in your main RTW directory. v3.0.1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing Note: I accidentially included HDR effects in this version. Due to the HDR effects you'll get a black screen with green letters in the upper left corner when you launch the game. But don't panic; you will just have to alt-tab out and in again to get to the normal loading screen. It's always possible to disable HDR effects later by deleting d3d8.dll and enbseries.ini; both files are located in your main RTW directory. v3.0 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5g...ew?usp=sharing Note: I accidentially included HDR effects in this version. Due to the HDR effects you'll get a black screen with green letters in the upper left corner when you launch the game. But don't panic; you will just have to alt-tab out and in again to get to the normal loading screen. It's always possible to disable HDR effects later by deleting d3d8.dll and enbseries.ini; both files are located in your main RTW directory. v2.x v2.3.1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v2.3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v2.2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v2.1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v2.0 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.x v1.6.1 - HDR Use this download link if you would like to have HDR effects ENABLED for Fourth Age Total War: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing Note: With HDR effects enabled you'll get a black screen with green letters in the upper left corner when you launch the game. You will have to alt-tab out and in again to get to the normal loading screen. It's always possible to disable HDR effects later by deleting d3d8.dll and enbseries.ini; both files are located in your main RTW directory. v1.6.1 - No HDR Use this download link if you would like to have HDR effects DISABLED for Fourth Age Total War: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.6 - HDR https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.6 - No HDR https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.5 - HDR https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.5 - No HDR https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.4 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.3 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.2 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.1 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing v1.0 https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_b...ew?usp=sharing

Installation instructions

1) make sure you have Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion 1.6 or 1.6.1 installed. 2) Install The Fourth Age Total War: Dominion of Men 3.0 . 3) Install the 3.2 Patch. 4) Made a backup of your ...\bi\fatw\data folder 5) Rename your save game folder if you already played Fourth Age Total War because this submod is NOT savegame compatible. I recommend naming it: "saves - no submod" or something similar. 6) Download Razor.God's Submod v3.6 and extract it onto your Rome Total War folder.

Screenshots

Credits

0AD - Horse nay sound effect, ground textures Athenogoras - FATW Battlemod Boris Vorontsov - ENBSeries Europa Barbarorum II Team - Strategy map pines and dead trees FATW Team - Fourth Age Total War: Dominion of Men 3.2 Aradan CountMRVHS Éorl Webba MasterOfNone maxTextures.com - Ground textures Roma Surrectum Team - Battle map vegetation, ground textures and stone throwing ballistas dvk901 - team Leader MihaiV - siege engine models Tone - team Leader, battle map vegetation models Rome Total Realism 8 Team - Vegetation, environment textures Ahowl11 - Team Leader SATANIKLVSTSDCLXVI A.K.A. xXxXxRazor.GodxXxXx (me) - Vegetation, environment textures, Battle Map Features Xeofox - Vegetation textures.com - Cliff textures The Heirs of Vidugavia v1.2 (other submod for FATW) Arsaces Beorn Third Age Total War Team - Sound effects Jones King kjobbit Smirk TestudoAubreii The Hunt for Gollum xXxXxRazor.GodxXxXx - Textures, models, skies, sound effects, coding, bug fixing

Known issues

- Siege towers do not work properly at Dol Amroth, Annuminas, and Fornost. Until this is fixed I recommend rams, ladders, and spies - Trolls sometimes cause CTDs on some computers. - Even with military access the AI, even passive factions (Elves, Dwarves, Shire) will sometimes attack your armies when in their territory. Be careful when trespassing. - Some pre-existing stone roads missing building cards. - Some orc units in historical battles missing unit cards.

Feedback and constructive criticism is more than welcome!

[CountMRVHS]

Interesting stuff! Thanks for taking the initiative to put this together. I'm curious about a couple of things:

1. What do you mean by the fatigue system of RTW being fixed?

2. Do you find that penalties for being oversupplied make it difficult to manage your armies/generals? I'd think it would be hard to keep generals in the "sweet spot" of being neither over- nor under-supplied.


I'm also interested to see what others think. I know there have been some players who voiced a preference for Huge unit sizes; hopefully this will be to their liking!

(I should probably also add the usual caveat that this isn't a developer-released submod, and as such we can't offer support, etc etc) Thanks again

[Wambat]

I have seen a couple of things in other game forums which this one might benefit from:

a. A sticky up top with links to all the sub-mods so they are easy to find as they get pushed down the thread list.

b. A thread for mod/sub-mod suggestions to collect ideas from those who have not the time or skill to create their own sub-mods.

[CountMRVHS]

Great ideas. I'll see about making that happen.

[webba84]

Always happy to see submods, I suspect that a huge unit size one will be quite popular .

Razor, could we trouble you to please put a short disclaimer in your OP next to the download links that this mod is your work and the FATW dev team can't provide tech support for it?

Thanks!

[20ninescene]

1. What do you mean by the fatigue system of RTW being fixed?

Well the AI in rtw doesn't know how to handle fatigue and as a result it's troops become utterly tired, sometimes even before the two armies are in melee. I fixed this with a complicated workaround.

2. Do you find that penalties for being oversupplied make it difficult to manage your armies/generals? I'd think it would be hard to keep generals in the "sweet spot" of being neither over- nor under-supplied.

Your right, I'll fix that in v1.3 so it only happens after 10 years of inactivity.

Always happy to see submods, I suspect that a huge unit size one will be quite popular .

Razor, could we trouble you to please put a short disclaimer in your OP next to the download links that this mod is your work and the FATW dev team can't provide tech support for it?

Thanks!

Done

[webba84]

Thanks mate

[20ninescene]

Thanks mate

You're welcome.

Btw: does anyone know how to properly use the trait/ancillary validator for fourth age total war? When I try to use it I get a lot of errors caused by 'invalid' settlement names and it takes too long before I reach the supply triggers. I just want to make sure that my supply system doesn't affect the stability of fourth age total war.

[Hanti]

Well the AI in rtw doesn't know how to handle fatigue and as a result it's troops become utterly tired, sometimes even before the two armies are in melee. I fixed this with a complicated workaround.

Your right, I'll fix that in v1.3 so it only happens after 10 years of inactivity.

(...)

Missiles are nerfed.

I would like to know what exactly you did to workaround fatigue.

About missiles and overall archery-supremacy: I think the best way to remove that supremacy is adding +1 hp to all units, so the weakest units will have 2 hp.
Without additional missiles, archers will be half effective in general and less effective specifically if enemy charges.

[Wambat]

+1 hp to all units, so the weakest units will have 2 hp.

Bear in mind, increasing hit-points in this way would also proportionally increase the importance of cavalry and cavalry charges as they would become a comparatively more effective way of causing instant casualties to stimulate rout. This will result in a significant boost to factions with strong cavalry. This would also considerably diminish the power gap between Elves and other factions on the battlefield. I am sure there are plenty of other balance issues that would be affected that would require considerable play testing to tease out.

[20ninescene]

I would like to know what exactly you did to workaround fatigue.

Well basically I severely reduced the rate at which troops get tired. The penalty of 50% slower movement when troops become utterly tired is ridiculous and it gives the player an advantage over the AI since the AI in rtw doesn't know how to handle fatigue.
This is how I did it:
-All troops have a high negative value for stat_heat
-All climates have a high positive heat value
-Units from northern and temperate areas have better stamina to compensate the fact that their heat value has a smaller absolute value than southern units (I gave most northern units the hardy attribute and hardy becomes very_hardy for them)
-I rebalanced movement modifiers individually for each climate taking heat values in account

About missiles and overall archery-supremacy: I think the best way to remove that supremacy is adding +1 hp to all units, so the weakest units will have 2 hp.
Without additional missiles, archers will be half effective in general and less effective specifically if enemy charges.

That's exactly what I did

Bear in mind, increasing hit-points in this way would also proportionally increase the importance of cavalry and cavalry charges as they would become a comparatively more effective way of causing instant casualties to stimulate rout. This will result in a significant boost to factions with strong cavalry. This would also considerably diminish the power gap between Elves and other factions on the battlefield. I am sure there are plenty of other balance issues that would be affected that would require considerable play testing to tease out.

Well to my observation cavalry charges are less deathly with 2 HP's, but cavalry lasts longer in melee. Maybe I'm going to increase the animation delay of lances to 200 instead of 100, what do you think?

[flaggelant]

howdy,

like the mod so far,
but since installing the mod over vanilla fatw, when i start the game i have to alt-tab out and in again to get from a black screen to the normal loading screen.
any clue what might cause this & how to fix it?

[20ninescene]

Did you installed the version with HDR effects?
If so, that's normal and you don't have to worry about that. If you want to fix it, just delete d3d8.dll and enbseries.ini (both files are located in your main RTW directory)

[20ninescene]

Here is a little sneak peek of how skies will look in the next version:

[Beorn]

damn, they look...real

[20ninescene]

I rendered those skies in 3ds Max and edited them with Gimp. btw: Would there be any risks of making my skies public domain? I mean I do not care if anyone uses them for whatever they want, even if someone makes profit with it. After all it are just partially randomly generated clouds, not music or an unit model.

[_Tartaros_]

looking great!

[20ninescene]

v2.1 is now up, the only change is that it includes "The Heirs of Vidugavia" v1.2 instead of v1.1 .

[20ninescene]

Version 3.0 is out. Feel free to give it a try

[Nelduin]

Those graphical enhancements are awesome, I will give it a try.