>>>Download<<< DarthMod: Shogun II v5.0 Finale Edition + Launcher HotFix (updated 25/3/2012)

[DARTH VADER]

Version 2.95

• The melee system is improved even more. Battles are chaotic, heroic, cinematic, challenging (you should also get better FPS).
• The overflow of trade income that could occur in some circumstances should now be corrected.
• No-Dachi Samurai balanced better.
• Genpei Levy have now higher upkeep cost to compensate their larger numbers.
• DMS Launcher changes:
  
  • Added option to use the very good mod Epic Texture Mod & Performance up to 50 % Version: 5.0 (Finial) which increases perfomance and FPS. It is made by Superghostboy and the button enables the mix of his mini-mods:
    Finial for performance
    Addon Performance fix
    FPS boost up to 50%
  • Added easy options to enable with one click the Default 2X Size units and the Default Normal size settings of the Mod. One of these two options must be used to play Multiplayer with your friends.
  • Now the default unit size is enabled automatically (no longer needed to enable a special unit size option in the game settings).

The new DarthMod: Shogun II is uploaded to moddb and awaits authorization.
In the meantime you can download and use the minimal pack version of the mod.

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.0

• Melees improved even more by inspiration of the new blood pack. Now you will see more responsive troops to form small groups and to penetrate the enemy formations by creating a nasty blood path.
• Repaired and updated the Epic Texture Mod of Superghostboy (only available in the DMS launcher).

I have just updated the mod.
You must wait for moddb authorization before the file is available.

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.1

• Many changes to the battle system ensure now that the player faces a very challenging AI opponent and the melees are chaotic and bloody as hell! Additionally FPS should be higher due to some adjustments (This game is very heavy in graphics indeed).
• Fine tuned the projectiles to be even more effective and useful than before.
• Revamped the morale system to be extremely dynamic and realistic. Flanking and targeted missile attacks have much more impact and the quality of the soldiers shows more.
• CAI is now more mobile around the map (attacks/defends more).
• CAI slightly more neutral than overly aggressive or friendly in some occasions.
• Submod changes in the launcher:
  
  • Updated the submod Shogun 2 Retexture Project Version: 10.0 by Superghostboy
  • Updated the submod Atmospheric Sounds Mod v. 1.35 + Twosocks Formation Sounds v6 by pisoiasul
  
  

I hope moddb will authorise it before 2012...
Happy New Year to all.

It is strongly recommended to uninstall the previous version before installing the new one.

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.2

• Fix to the Naval battles CTD.
• Fine tune of the new morale system.
• Fine tune of the new melee mechanic system to show more animations and to create good challenge for the human player.
• Fine tune of mass and physics for violent and realistic pushes between troops during melee creating havoc and tension in the battlefield as it should be. (If you thought melee in DarthMod was good before... what to say now!). The new physics system is creating REAL MASS effects. Horses get stuck between the mass of troops who push around and penetrate weak formations or stop against yari brickwalls. There is a complete revamp of the melee system which will astonish you. I guarantee.
• FPS is increased more again (it should be as good as it can be).
• Improved even more the realistic spread of arrows.
• Made cannon balls to bounce and to have a much more realistic impact.
• Added more crew to ships and fine tuned some aspects of naval battles so to be really interesting to play.
• Improved the CAI recruitment (There were some vanilla issues). Now it should build less Bow Ashigaru and more Matchlock Men, More No-Dachi Samurai, more cavalry, more special faction troops and generally it should be much more reasonable when choosing which units to build.
• Added Ambush deployment zone mod v1.0 (ROTS compatible) created by akp. This is already added in version 3.1 but was wrongly not mentioned in the changelog. (Credits will be given).
• Fine tuned fire ignition so now the motherships are really strong and the light ships not "flamethrowers" as they could be before.
• Launcher changes:
  
  • Now an asterisk (*) shows which settings are the default. (So you do not ask me zillion times).
  • Fixed script for option "Epic Retexture" which was not working.

Force moddb to authorise quickly or install first the PACK and wait for the full download.

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.2+ (HotFix)

• Fine tuned the new cinematic melee system. You asked for more penetration (I am talking about melee).... THERE YOU HAVE IT!
• Experience should now not drop so much while reinforcing a unit (a bug that probably the new patch created to the mod).

You know the drill. Wait for moddb authorisation or use the PACK.

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.25

• Many improvements to the CAI recruitment choices per clan character and fix of the Archer spam reported in the previous version. (Needs testing).
• CAI should develop more and build more economical buildings, according to the clan character.
• CAI should manage better its economics and not endanger itself to bankruptcy, which previously could result to overaggressiveness and inexcusable war declarations to the human player. (That was even more evident in vanilla).
• Balanced better the Matchlock units as per user feedback.
• Better Shimazu gunners balance.
• CAI should recruit less ships than army units.
• CAI should build and use more the trade ships.
• Some diplomacy changes.
  
  • Inciting rebellions has more penalty.
  • Following an ally's aggression action does not give penalty (it should be the reason why you got negative diplomacy passively overtime).
  • More diplomacy bonus for trade agreements.
  
  
• Replaced unit multiplier x2 with x1.5. Now the Yari Ashigaru Spear Wall should work correctly and you should notice much less battle lag.
• Improved slightly the movement realism of units.
• Made Naginata to have distinctly more mass which helps them in melee.
• Increased ship mass for enhanced physics effects.

is uploaded to moddb.com
You must wait for authorisation 1 australian day... sorry.

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.3

• Matchlocks are now more accurate and powerful as they should be (improved the ballistics not the stats). Thanks to the multiple feedback about this matter.
• Yari Ashigaru and Yari Samurai can now form Spear Squares. This makes them much more useful and also very handy when having units equipped with arquebushiers because you can handle them much more easily.
• Naginata Samurai have increased attack to be more useful.
• Yari Samurai have reduced Anti-Cavalry Bonus (was too high in vanilla) and +1 Defence. With their new Spear Square ability they are now very unique and useful.
• CAI received some slight bonus in various sectors to be more challenging.
• NanBan Trade ship is now available in custom and MP battles and also received a more realistic turning and movement rate. The Black Ship also has more realistic handling.
• Ikko-Ikki Ashigaru can now be recruited in zero turns and are cheaper.
• New super Darth effects created with extreme care to guns. Now you will enjoy playing with the weapons that changed the Japanese warfare and understand why they were powerful for their era not only by their impact but also from the stunning visuals. Furthermore, the effects have been optimised to use much less particles in some occasions (for example blood, ambient effects etc.) so that FPS is increased without loss of detail.
  (The Darth Effects replaced the Re-Texturing of Supeghostboy because of some blood issues and conflicts with the Darth Effects... I had to use only one. If you want to manually use the Re-texture mod of Supeghostboy please note that Darth Effects are not compatible with it).

is uploaded to moddb.com
You must wait for authorisation... but you can download the small pack version 3.3 or the old version 3.25 until then.

Do not forget to uninstall the previous version before installing this.

[DARTH VADER]

Moddb Mirror now is active.

[DARTH VADER]

All mirrors are available!

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.4

• Even more improved melee mechanics for cinematic and stunning battles.
• Morale tweaked so that Hammer and Anvil tactics to be rewarded more.
• Battle Auto Calculation should be much more improved and will realistically simulate the deserved losses in Land and Naval battles. The player will no longer abuse AutoCalc to win difficult battles.
• Several improvements to CAI to be more aggressive, more energetic in diplomacy, even more challenging overall.
• In addition the CAI should calculate better the size of the army needed to beat the human player resulting to huge attacking stacks and careful defending.
• CAI will no longer be baited by cunning players to leave settlements undefended. (it could occur).
• Weird Broken Trade and Alliance agreements diplomacy bug should now be fixed.
• Bow Ashigaru morale reduced so that they do not stand too much in melee.
• Much more improved smoke effects that can be described by only one word->AMAZING.
• Sad news: Elvasat mod had to be removed because TWCenter claims that it had copyright issues.....

The mini PACK version is available, you have to wait for moddb authorisation to get the full launcher.

[DARTH VADER]

New mirror added offered by StrategyInformer.com!

[DARTH VADER]

All mirrors are available!

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.45 compatibility patch
It includes all the improvements of DarthMod: Shogun II v3.4 but some features are missing until the mod tools get updated so all available mod files can be tweaked as before.

Specifically this patch DISABLES the special land unit statistics of DarthMod (for example units morale, attack, defense values etc.) and special unit cost balances (for example unit costs and area recruitments) but it includes EVERYTHING ELSE of DarthMod Shogun v3.4 (for example overall dynamic morale, gameplay, CAI improvements etc.)
For the full changelog of DarthMod Shogun READ HERE. (Paragraph edited 25/3/2012)

In addition this patch enhances Fall of the Samurai in many sections.
You get everything of DarthMod Shogun except the following:

• No special FotS unit statistics
• No special FotS unit cost balances
• No special FotS naval unit statistics
• No special FotS projectile statistics

However, you will notice all other usual improvements you get with DarthMod, such as realistic movements, more realistic ballistics, more chaotic and realistic melee mechanics and improved BAI and CAI.Once the mod tools get updated, DarthMod will complete the scheduled improvements for FotS as planned. Do not wait until then... download DarthMod Shogun v3.4 and this patch and play the game, enjoying the enhancements you ask with your feedback.

The Patch is currently "authorised" in moddb but if you cannot hold that long, grab the small pack to upgrade your DarthMod yourself.

[DARTH VADER]

25/3/2012
A new HotFix is available which repairs the problem of Sengoku archers to be heard like guns. More files had to be removed which have to do with unit costs, area recruitments, unit caps etc. to fix this (unit_tables db files). Probably this fixes the reported CTDs reported for Sengoku and RotS campaigns.

If the file is not yet authorised by modb, you can download it from here:
DarthMod_Shogun_II_v3,45_Compatibility_Patch_HotFix.zip

[DARTH VADER]

First install DarthMod: Shogun II v3.4 then install the patch which makes the mod playable after the latest official patch of Creative Assembly and the new game Fall of the Samurai.

Special New in v3.5

• Included many fixes and improvements to make DarthMod settings to adapt fully with FotS. Some noticeable improvements are:
  -More realistic ballistics
  -More chaotic and cinematic melees
  -More realistic aiming procedure (not too rapid)
  -Less accuracy as realism requires
  -Slower reload rate
  -Improved movement rates for infantry and cavalry (FotS cavalry not Benny Hill any more).
  -Many more related to BAI and CAI
• Darth Effects re-created to show visually stunning and realistic, marrying both eras, medieval and 19th century era. Darth effects are now enabled by default in the launcher.
• Some issues reported (Sengoku campaign CTDs, Shrapnel shots not working, Arrows sound like guns etc.) are now resolved. If there is any other Sengoku Campaign CTD, possibly it is related to the official patch and not DarthMod.

General Info:
It includes all the improvements of DarthMod: Shogun II v3.4 but some features are missing until the mod tools get updated so all available mod files can be tweaked as before.
Specifically this patch DISABLES:

• The special land unit statistics of DarthMod (for example units morale, attack, defense values etc.)
• The special unit cost balances (for example unit costs and area recruitments)
• The increased Garrisons.

But it includes EVERYTHING ELSE of DarthMod Shogun v3.4 (for example overall dynamic morale, gameplay, CAI improvements etc.)
For the full changelog of DarthMod Shogun READ HERE.
In addition this patch enhances Fall of the Samurai in many sections.
You get everything of DarthMod Shogun except the following:

• No special FotS unit statistics
• No special FotS unit cost balances
• No special FotS naval unit statistics
• No special FotS projectile statistics

However, you will notice all other usual improvements you get with DarthMod, such as realistic movements, more realistic ballistics, more chaotic and realistic melee mechanics and improved BAI and CAI. Once the mod tools get updated, DarthMod will complete the scheduled improvements for FotS as planned. Do not wait until then... download DarthMod Shogun v3.4 and this patch and play the game, enjoying the enhancements you ask with your feedback.


Please follow these instructions:
V3.5 Compatibility Patch correct Installation procedure ***Important***

[DARTH VADER]

Special New in v3.6 Full Patch
This version is dedicated to daniu, DaFranker who helped enormously to upgrade the PFM Mod tool.

• Almost everything from the previous DarthMod: Shogun v3.4 is now imported. The combat realism, the BAI, the CAI, should all be there as you wanted them to be. The special traits and characters upgrades are temporarily removed for the time being because they caused CTD in Campaigns, especially in Sengoku Campaigns (for example the +3 Character points). Additionally one important file that gave special character to Oda and other clans to be more efficient is disabled. When the mod tools allow the editing of these newly updated files, I will insert again.
• Several other fixes that correct issues of the previous compatibility patches, for example the Super Lighting cannon smoke effect when HDR was on.
• Some very strange official vanilla bugs fixed: The Parrot gun smoke is now visible, the Tosa have the correct reload rifle animation and not the muzzle musket, sounds for Sengoku matchlocks and Heavy gunners fixed. One bug that I could not fix was the broken Fatigue system which, in Vanilla as well, does not consider properly the fatigue related to projectiles, therefore missile units tend to tire much less and are fresh if they do not move. (Hoping for an official Fix).
• Many new things were added to Sengoku and RotS gameplay to finetune (unit costs, musket balance, unit behaviour etc. which you will notice especially in battles.)

Now the more special improvements:

• New Darth AI Formation System included by default which is specially designed for FotS battles as it uses better the Line Infantry units and does not "blob" as in vanilla. The new formation system improves the BAI overall and utilizes better attack/defend offsets, no gaps between units, new formation types and swaps efficiently according to circumstances, for example when the AI has a traditional style army it will use the classic Sengoku formations and not the modern Darth line formations. Additionally some bugs have been traced which possibly resulted in the known Passive AI siege bug and reinforcement AI passivity, but more tests are needed to be sure.
• The Darth Effects which are enabled by default are by far, THE BEST AND MORE REALISTIC EVER. NO MORE WORDS HERE. YOU MUST SEE WITH YOUR OWN EYES! All the smoke and cimematic atmosphere you get with these effects are provided with no additional FPS loss = Magic.
• New Projectile Trails that replace those ugly white vanilla lasers with more subtle and gentle ones. Even if you never liked trails in Total War games, these, quite strangely, add to the atmosphere and should be tried out.

And finally FotS improvements to the Maximum as well! The most notable from the hundreds are:

• Realistic Ballistics and Animations provide you a real feel of the gun warfare of the era. The units do not aim, load robotically and have applied 100% accuracy as in vanilla (my god) and have increased effective range according to weapon type. Each weapon type is very much unique and makes each unit having it special as well. For example you will really feel the might of modern breech loaders compared to old muzzle loaded muskets. The basic range increases are:
  Old muskets range=150
  Bows range=150
  Muzzle loaded Rifles=180 (increased to 250 with suppressive fire)
  Breech rifles=190 (increased to 250 with suppressive fire)
  Sharpshooter rifles (Muzzle or Breech)=250
• Accordingly the Naval Battles are optimised with multiple ways as common logic required. No longer the ships will turn so quickly or shoot with 100 accuracy. Tactics matter more and you will feel the many changes right away once you play your first battle.
  -Massive Balance re-work for Land and Naval units. The changes are too many to type and you will notice them while playing and comparing units alike. In general, the traditional troops have the necessary armour and melee superiority against the modern infantry which should prevail with proper gun tactics. Other balance changes include historic adjustments, for example L'Ocean better stats than the Roanoke Class ship, and some fixes, for example Copper plated ships have now some armour (in vanilla they had not in the stats).
• The BAI and CAI in FotS is greatly improved overall following the correct recipe of DarthMod: Shogun II. However, there is plenty of room to improve things and feedback is necessary, so head to TWCenter and supply your opinion, suggestion, ideas etc.
  Twcenter.net

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.6 HotFix

• Gatling guns not firing fixed (Thanks to Valky for the feedback).
• Jozai 1st turn crash fixed (Had to remove increased Land Army Radius of DarthMod).
• Messed up archer/gun sound bug fixed (Had to remove the file "unit_tables" responsible mainly for the very important unit cost balances, special area recruitments, increased fleet movement points etc... when the mod tools allow it I shall return it back).
• Kneel Fire available to White Tigers too.
• Kneel Fire available immediately in the campaign for all the units and does not need research. To kneel is not so difficult and it was necessary so to counter the rank fire ability that is inserted for the levies. The previous vanilla research related to Kneel Fire is replaced by accuracy bonuses.
• Some minor unit balance improvements.
• Balanced better the projectile system vs melee.
• Naval projectile damage & accuracy system improved for more realistic and slower battles.
• Some AI formations optimizations.
• Some CAI FotS necessary tweaks.
• Fine tuned volley fire mechanics to show more real and not "Gamey". You will notice that troops will tend to fire controlled massed volleys without your intervention.

You may have to re-install v3.6 with the correct procedure mentioned here: How to install properly.
I cannot guarantee that your campaigns will continue to work after this patch because I had to remove a crucial file (read above).

[DARTH VADER]

Version 3.7

• Reworked all about the AI Battle formations and corrected all issues reported (problems with sieges, ambushes, naval battles, CTD etc.) and not only that, the new formations take full advantage of modern gun warfare. Notice the AI to attack you with rifles as you have never seen it before! You will be scared.
• Better gun reload & drill synchronization (results to devastating volleys).
• Corrected some animation issues which made units to response less quickly.
• Gave special Samurai collision model to some traditional troops to help them even more in melee.
• Made melee even more cinematic and chaotic.
• Rifles should be even better at high range as requested.
• Improved Naval battles overall especially the related BAI.
• Ships will not explode so often.
• CAI should be not be so prone to break alliances and trade agreements as before.
• Realm Divide will happen not so early as before.
• FotS CAI will prefer more the traditional troops but also the Line Infantry as well.
• Gunboats will not be preferred so much by CAI.
• Many more to see for yourself...

[DARTH VADER]

Special new in v3.8

• Fixed the random campaign Freezes.
• Fixed CAI preferring too much Yari Samurai.
• CAI now not too aggressive.
• Naval Autocalc improved.
• AI formation fix so not to cause random CTD in battles.
• Made CAI to prefer far less the Gunboats but I cannot optimise because the relevant file cannot be modded yet.
• Returned projectile effectiveness to proper levels.
• Fine tuned naval projectile damage.
• Made less the accuracy bonus of a certain technology level because it increased it proportionally too much and destroyed balance.
• Removed rank fire ability for Matchlock Katchi because the AI never used it and probably it affected negatively the AI using this drill.
• Improved the artillery accuracy to be better as requested.
• Lessened the artillery crew "dancing" (not sure if it is a vanilla bug).
• Improved the CAI recruitment choices for all campaign types (Boshin, Genpei, Sengoku).
• Naval autocalc should not be so lethal so that gunboats take bigger ships with them.

How to install properly

[DARTH VADER]

Special new in v3.8 HotFix

• Guns slightly more powerful to take down Samurai & Cavalry charges more easily.
• More ammo for guns as requested.
• Some slight improvements to Formations AI resulting to more effective BAI.
• Gunboat balance tweaks to make them less effective in autocalc and in battle as it was required.
• Garrison fixes (now Castle has correctly more garrison and also high tier buildings have more Line Infantry than Levy Infantry).
• Fatigue affected more by reloading/firing.
  (This hotfix is fully compatible with your campaign saves)

Moddb should not delay too much to authorise the file.
Until then you can use the minimal version Packs I provide (unless you play with Garrison/Handicap gameplay options).