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Thread: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

  1. #1

    Default Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Has anyone read the Emberverse series by S. M. Stirling? Given the nature of the books I'd imagine they'd be pretty easy to implement to a RTW mod....


    1. There's a tutorial somewhere on how to get real life maps and convert them to rtw strat_maps. All we'd need to do is pick the right part of Oregan, Washington & Idaho.
    2. Factions are pretty clearly laid out as The PPA, The Bearkillers, The Mackenzies, Mount Angel, Corvallis, the Dunedain & CORA.
    3. Units & Models could be sourced (with permission) from other mods. Norman Invasion & FATW are particular favourites of mine & between them, I think you could get them all... Plus the modwrights are very awesome people
    4. The unit rosters for each faction would be fairly limited, which would just make for a more faction specific playing style & less emphasis on fancy units, more emphasis on tactics both strategically & on the battlefield (this has always been a contention of mine with many mods - too many units & unit types negates the focus on stategy imo)
    5. 2D art would need doing, which I can't even begin to fathom...
    6. More info here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emberverse_series

    I've got a heap more ideas but no point listing it all if there wouldn't be an audience. So what does everybody think?
    Emberverse: Total War - The Protectors War

  2. #2
    MathiasOfAthens's Avatar Comes Rei Militaris
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    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    First three books were awesome, got little boring after that but Im still reading the latest ones.

    Any reason why you want to do this on RTW. It would be better on M2TW for obvious reasons. One the PPA was modeled after the Normans with castles.

  3. #3
    lolIsuck's Avatar WE HAVE NO CAKE!
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    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    I think you could better do it on M2TW too

  4. #4
    Derpy Hooves's Avatar Bombs for Muffins
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    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    It is because he does not have medieval II



  5. #5
    MathiasOfAthens's Avatar Comes Rei Militaris
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    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Its less than 10 pounds... go and buy it.

    No point on doing this because your end up with either barbarian villages or roman/greek settlements.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Quote Originally Posted by swordofjanak View Post
    It is because he does not have medieval II
    Bingo.

    Quote Originally Posted by MathiasOfAthens View Post
    Its less than 10 pounds... go and buy it.

    No point on doing this because your end up with either barbarian villages or roman/greek settlements.
    I'm pretty sure it won't run on my laptop - only a 128mb graphics system. I could be wrong though...

    Quote Originally Posted by MathiasOfAthens View Post
    First three books were awesome, got little boring after that but Im still reading the latest ones.

    Any reason why you want to do this on RTW. It would be better on M2TW for obvious reasons. One the PPA was modeled after the Normans with castles.
    Yeah, I was thinking of placing it at the cusp of the Protectors War, sorta just as the Dunedain start to take off. The PPA could be sourced from NI, the Dunedain from FATW, Mackenzies from NI (Welsh), the Bearkillers from FATW & NI (Rohan for the A-listers? Or Variags? Maybe the Welsh BG unit? Or maybe the Dale units hidden away in the install?), Corvalis from FATW (Dale & Dwarf units from FATW). You get the idea.

    As for working in MTWII, I've never even played it (my old laptop had 64mb of video memory...) let alone took a look at the code. Besides, this is literally just an idea at the moment, I was just looking to see what the reaction would be. Will be months before I even consider doing anything - first thing is to gain permission to borrow all the work of the NI & FATW modellers - and I have another mini-campaign I want to put together for FATW before I try anything like this. I'm not all that techy & a little practice with another project would help me gain further insight into the mechanics of the engine.

    A big thankyou for all the attention & thoughts though!
    Last edited by Finrod Felagund; April 21, 2011 at 09:24 PM.
    Emberverse: Total War - The Protectors War

  7. #7
    Derpy Hooves's Avatar Bombs for Muffins
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    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Yeah, and +rep for introducing me to these books. I will have to read one at some point. They look very interesting.



  8. #8
    Bull3pr00f de Bodemloze's Avatar Occasio mihi fertur
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    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    If you need castles and don't wanna buy Med2, you can have ChivTW's

  9. #9

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Quote Originally Posted by Bull3pr00f de Bodemloze View Post
    If you need castles and don't wanna buy Med2, you can have ChivTW's
    Thanks

    Will be in touch if/when this gets off the ground!
    Emberverse: Total War - The Protectors War

  10. #10

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    This looks like a neat and focused concept. I wonder if this would be a more manageable project than the one you have in mind atm. Barring the map and 2d, most of the other stuff can be found.

    I'll be getting those books btw, they seem quite interesting. I've already picked my favourite faction too.

  11. #11

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Quote Originally Posted by swordofjanak View Post
    Yeah, and +rep for introducing me to these books. I will have to read one at some point. They look very interesting.
    They're good books! Particularly the first three, and even more so the first one. I got into them last year, have read them all now and am eagerly awaiting the next one at the end of the year...

    Quote Originally Posted by Aradan View Post
    This looks like a neat and focused concept. I wonder if this would be a more manageable project than the one you have in mind atm. Barring the map and 2d, most of the other stuff can be found.
    Not sure, I had planned the War of the Jewels: Total War to really be simplistic in the extreme - very, very much a learning, mini-campaign for FATW project for myself that others might also enjoy. Only 2 factions, no rebel settlements, limited unit rosters (although not as limited as I think this one would need to be).

    With a little thought though, you could be right. The extremely limited unit rosters of this mod would make life pretty easy to make the mod (for instance, the Dunedain faction would literally only have Dunedain Rangers, which would be based on the luuuurvely Rangers of Ithilien. The Generals unit would be a suped-up version, like the White Company but with almost identical skins to the Rangers, and their cavalry would have to be sourced from CORA mercs. Imagine trying to get anywhere using only those few unit types? It'd be a real challenge as a General... Just like in the books) but there would be more factions to work with when building the mod up - WotJ would only have two. I can see that, against my better judgement, I'll be doing some work on this in the next few days, dammit. And this UK weather is so good right now!

    Quote Originally Posted by Aradan View Post
    I'll be getting those books btw, they seem quite interesting. I've already picked my favourite faction too.
    Hope you enjoy the books. I'm betting you're rooting for the Dunedain, eh? They are cool, but Astrid Larsson is a bit of a nut... Being a bowyer myself, I'm a Mackenzie fan
    Last edited by Finrod Felagund; April 22, 2011 at 11:53 AM.
    Emberverse: Total War - The Protectors War

  12. #12

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    For anyone interested, I managed to get partway through a working campaign mod for this. I've attached the map files - bear in mind there was a lot more work done (loading screens, icons, tech tree, recruitment tree, splash screen, etc) but they're going to be a pain to upload here in Delhi.

    Please bear in mind it's a work in progress and completely unfinished! I won't have a chance to work on this for the next few months, being on the road from India to Greece & all, but I figured this might peak some interest in some.

    Incidentally, before leaving Australia I bought a new laptop which is capable of running MTWII, so when I get an opportunity and time I'll get a copy and see about perhaps doing this mod on that platform.
    Last edited by Finrod Felagund; November 27, 2011 at 11:25 PM.
    Emberverse: Total War - The Protectors War

  13. #13
    Skull's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Quote Originally Posted by Finrod Felagund View Post
    I'm pretty sure it won't run on my laptop - only a 128mb graphics system. I could be wrong though...
    JESSH...

    And I thoth my 256 PC was bad....



    Quote Originally Posted by Finrod Felagund View Post
    Incidentally, before leaving Australia I bought a new laptop which is capable of running MTWII, so when I get an opportunity and time I'll get a copy and see about perhaps doing this mod on that platform.

    !

    EVERYONE GETS A NEW PC WHILE I HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT THAT I WILL GET A NEW ONE WHEN THIS PICE OF DIES!



    *SIGH*Well,anyway,good luck with your mod!Wish you all the best...
    Last edited by Skull; November 28, 2011 at 05:45 AM.
    A bomb's a bad choice for close-range combat.

  14. #14

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Finrod, what's the 'installation process' for the files you uploaded? Copy BI's "data" folder inside a BI/TPW folder and then put the attachments in the appropriate places?

  15. #15

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    You're right, Aradan - sorry for not being clearer! To be honest, I wasn't expecting anyone to show an interest.

    Copy the BI folder contents into another folder within the BI folder (as per a standard mod start). I called this TPWBI (The Protectors War Barbarian Invasion). In the 'Text' folder, place the text document attached above, within the world\maps folder, copy & replace the folders from the .rar file above.

    This will give you access to the a working version of the map, albeit lacking completed map_ground_types.tga & map_regions.tga. It is none the less though, a start. There had been a lot more development go into tech trees, faction units (all borrowed from various other mods!), icons & 2D art, faction descriptions, but this map shows the major part of the work I can call my own & not borrowed from another.

    It's been a huge learning curve doing this & I've aborted it & restarted several times, but it's been rewarding also. I might see about working on this under the Kingdoms framework, but I need to buy the game, play it and work out some of the code before I start that - and there is much to be done between here and there. And somewhere along the line I'll no doubt be caught up in DOM...
    Emberverse: Total War - The Protectors War

  16. #16

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    For some reason I keep getting an errorless CTD when I try to start a campaign... Obviously I am either messing up the installation or there's something wrong/missing in the files. Did you try installing from scratch (as if you were a player and didn't already have TPW) and it worked?

  17. #17

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Not sure why this didn't strike me earlier, but can we please have the edited names files?
    Replacing the names in descr_strat ith vanilla names solves the crash issue.


    Comments: I know you'll probably hate the idea, but would you consider increasing the size of the map? The extra room will come in handy in case it is ever populated with more 'minor' settlements (homesteads, hamlets, tiny villages, etc).

    I'd love to see a more fleshed-out version of the map!
    Last edited by Aradan; December 03, 2011 at 02:31 PM.

  18. #18

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    I really, really, really like this idea; I'm a huge S.M. Stirling fan and immediately thought that this universe would make an excellent TW mod. Guess great minds think alike, eh?

    I gave a good deal of thought to this (though I've not done any modding myself) in terms of map design and game balance. There's no reason to go into incredibly great detail, but suffice to say that I think any emberverse: total war mod will need the M2TW platform at the very least to bring out the richness of experience in the game, since the features (e.g. religion, important in the emberverse series, and the differences between fortified towns and castles) mesh well with those of the universe.

    In addition, it would be far easier to use M2TW as a platform because we could simply lift almost all unit models and capabilities directly from the existing game files - after all, in the emberverse, every faction bases their style of warfare off of some medieval fighting style.

  19. #19

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    Apologies for lack of contact - I've just landed in Athens and have my first taste of wifi in months.

    Aradan - I kept the map fairly small, encompassing purely just the Willamette Valley in order that it could be maintained within just the borders of The Protectors War. A broader map would encompass the CORA, Warm Springs and potentially US of Boise. Considerations for a team to make in future though.

    I've attached the text file requested but I really wouldn't get too excited, the whole project was just something I did around a lot of hectic work, trying to squeeze it in before I headed out of the country. There is a lot of groundwork done other than what I've uploaded, which can be ported over to the M2TW platform when I eventually find a copy (JTF - you're right, M2TW is definitely a better platform to start the mod on). Could be a while before that happens though as I'm guessing any copy of the game bought here in Greece would be in Greek... Which is all Greek to me!

    One day we'll see what we can do...
    Emberverse: Total War - The Protectors War

  20. #20

    Default Re: Idea - Emberverse:Total War?

    I'm not talking about the scope of the map, but about its actual size. That is, same area with a bigger zoom.


    There is no Greek version of M2, we're not a very big market, so most of the stuff we get are in English. If you try Public or Plaisio (both downtown), you'll probably find a M2 Gold for sth like 10€.


    EDIT: The file you uploaded isn't of much use. What's needed is the modified descr_names.txt. That, or a descr_strat that will use vanilla names.

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