RS2.5 Previews

[tone]

1) BATTLEMAP LIGHTING CHANGES












2) ROMAN BUILDINGS

Awesome temple

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Roman bath

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Circus Maximus

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Forum

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Great forum

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Roman Curia

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Urban barrack

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Roman insulae

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Roman block A

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Roman block C

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In game

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[Sandrus Castus]

Some terrifying/terrific skies up there, Tone!

[tone]

The thing about these is that the colours aren't an integral part of the skybox, but are controlled by the descr_daytypes file and so will change with time of day and therefore be appropriate. The lighting of units and terrain is also improved as part of that, resulting in a much more coherent and realistic artificial reality:



This shot shows the effects of the coloured setting sunlight on the ground and trees pretty well:

[NightEye]

... Wow... Beautiful.

How much of a performance hit will this new addition be for guys with older PCs though?

[tone]

None at all - it's purely text changes

[NightEye]

Right, thanks. It's amazing how much this old game engine can still be pushed.

[tone]

Yes....more to come still if all goes well.

I think they ran out of time...so much of what's in M2TW is really just tweaked RTW files

[johnnieangel]

INCREDIBLE!

[tone]

Megas Antiviros deserves most of the credit for this - I kind of knew deep down that there was a lot more that could be got out of the daytypes file but he was the one that really cracked a lot of the lighting settings...all I've done is tweak a little further.

[Grouchio]

Say, would there be any chance that the North african regions will include more land in them? (cyrene and such are tiny strips of land!)

[tone]

No, that would mean a complete redesign of the map.

[NightEye]

Would it okay to have a general summary of what to expect in this new patch?

[Salvor Hardin]

@Tone, these new lightning settings make the battle environment look even more astonishing, if possible. Excellent work!

[loet66]

Hi,

It's so beautiful !!

Excellent stuff !!

+ rep !

[chaplain118]

Just wait, there's more.

Yes, even more improvements.

[MemphisRex]

Awesome work guys. Kiu..!! RS 2.2 Go Go Go..!!

[tone]

Would it okay to have a general summary of what to expect in this new patch?

Well there's more than I can remember!

1) Hellenistic leadership system
2) Eastern leadership system (I think)
3) Loads of new traits for barbarians, nomads, greeks and easterners
4) Some more Carthaginian traits - possibly some sort of leadership system there too - I can't remember
5) Significantly improved Roman leadership system with:
i) provincial governorship traits and ancillaries
ii) new post Marian equestrian leadership system reflecting the "tres militiae" progression, with new traits allowing transition from Plebeian to Equestrian status and Adlection to the senate for gifted equestrians.
iii) Roman military decorations
iv) Roman legion ancillaries
6) Graphics enhancements - lighting changes and some more we'll reveal shortly
7) New mod-foldered campaigns

DVK is in a better position to answer this as I've only recently started working on things again

[Éorl]

Beautiful!

You can do a lot of things with the lighting settings in the desc_daytypes.txt. One of the basic things is the color of the light and the skydome textures during the morning and evening hours. The light needs to be more magenta/red in the evening, and a bit more yellowish/orange in the morning. The same applies to the skydome colors (east in the morning, west in the evening). You can also darken the opposite skydome part (west in the morning, east in the evening) by adjusting the color values (lowering them), this has proven to look quite effective.

I also used the sunlight color values to simulate a subtle ambient light effect, i.e. increasing the blue aspect subtly in snowy seasons/climates, thereby giving the light and the whole environment a cold feel, or making the red/yellow aspect a little bit more prominent for hot and dry climates, thereby giving it a warmer feel.

I'd like to see some non-winter morning and evening impressions.

[NerZhulen]

2.2 <--- when??

[Rex Basiliscus]

In 1-2 months probably.