Thinking of getting M2 for Third Age, how good is it?

[knight of meh]

all the things EK said are there to prevent specific problems that may be on some operating systems and not on others and some problems even vary from computer to computer.

so just because you got lucky doesn't mean the problem won't arise for others unfortunately.

to be clear everything could be good with your installation but it wont be fine for everyone

[Aldor]

knight of meh asked me about Nehrim mentioned in my post, so here you have my description for those intrested.

Off-topic

Well first of all Nehrim is much better then the original Oblivion game which already is a quite good game (you should also play it). This paragraph talks about Nehrim. (E.g. handmade environments don't apply to original Oblivion). A huge, hand-made (non-random generated) world. LOADS of eyecandy. Intresting main quest. Large, hand-made world that you walk in. Also every dungeon is different and there must be over 100. Furthermore it's 100% stable and bugfree for me and I played it to the ending and restarted a game. So a lot of playtime as well and varied due to each location being different and detailed. Great scripts that work and take the game so much further then Oblivion. Lastly something about Nehrim (Oblivion) gameplay... You live and fight in a world with cities, dungeons and storyline. It's an open world so you don't have to do what you're told. I mainly loved the main quest and exploring. The fighting system is a distand relative of mount and blade. You can play best in 1st person mode. Attacks are issued by buttons so you control yout character directly (vs. turn-based). There are lots of spell effects for the mage-type of character. NB: Concerning the 'starting zone'. For some people the start is quite slow and too dark/dangerous. I personally loved the starting cave. The first missions might be less fun. So in short don't get disappointed to fast. Once you get out of the besieged miner's village the world is open. NB: a very short mod for vanilla oblivion is Gates to Aesgard I. But there are lots of other mods. Shivering Isles official expansion is also fun.

[ElvenKind]

we see a new person come to community all full of hope and excitement

ElvenKind sees another lost soul who needs to be told how to install

[PandaChef]

It`s hell of an STEAM installation for this mod, you need to know few things BEFORE starting with it:

1. Do not use the internet while downloading TATW files, you can get corrupt download.

2. Do not put TATW Installers into your M2TW folder. Keep them somewhere els on your hard drive.

3. If you have Windows 7, 8, or VISTA, be sure to edit the security for your main M2TW folder BEFORE installing TATW.

4. STEAM Installation of TATW is different than non steam, there are more ways to do this, and, I don`t want to self promote myself , but, you can check this Thread with pictures for more info.

The steps you need to do are quite simple:

1. Edit the security.

2. Use on of the methods for steam installation, if you use the method with renaming one of your Kingdoms campaigns, then, follow the steps in the pictures ( make a new folder outside of your main M2TW folder, install TATW in it, copy paste the folder`s content into your M2TW/mods folder as instructed in the pictures, rename one of your ORIGINAL Kingdoms campaigns to something els, and rename your Third_Age_3 folder to the name of that Kingdoms campaign you just renamed. )

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

OP sees all this above and from this forum

How am i supposed to download the files without internet?

[knight of meh]

he means don't browse facebook or youtube

[PandaChef]

Why is Gondor hard? I thought it would be alright as i thought it would be impossible to lose Osgillath or Minas Tirith because of their size and position?

[knight of meh]

for most of the Gondor game you are getting stacks coming at you from two sides Mordor at the bridge and Harad from the south ,

and the bad AI will help you a lot more at keeping settlements forget about size and position

[Loki_999]

Some gross generalizations in that guide:

1) Security is only really an issue if you have installed to a secure location. So n00bs who install games to their default location (eg: C:\program files\etc....) get what they deserve. Those who set up a dedicated gaming partition have no such problems.

2) The problem with downloads is mainly because they are bloody huge files and even with modern download speeds they are still hefty, so yes, corruptions can occur. The main problem here is the main repository is modddb, which doesn't (as far as i recall) give a direct download link, so if the download botches up, I don't think any sort of sophisticated download manager could resume it or perform the necessary CRC checks. Use the torrents (info here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...rrent-download) and you don't have to worry about that. There was also a 3.1 torrent listed on gameupdates as well a while back, but still had to use moddb to get the 3.2 patch.

3) I presume that part about not putting the install files in the game directory is more of just a precaution, in that if you blitz your install directory, you lose the install files. It shouldn't cause any problems in itself.

[knight of meh]

1) Security is only really an issue if you have installed to a secure location. So n00bs who install games to their default location (eg: C:\program files\etc....) get what they deserve. Those who set up a dedicated gaming partition have no such problems.

EK specified windows 7,8 and vista which use virtual store , because med 2 is older than virtual store it can crap out when virtual store moves files leading to a lot of errors . Moving your games out of windows protected folders is just another option . There are also some user account control issues addressed in this suggestion

2) The problem with downloads is mainly because they are bloody huge files and even with modern download speeds they are still hefty, so yes, corruptions can occur. The main problem here is the main repository is modddb, which doesn't (as far as i recall) give a direct download link, so if the download botches up, I don't think any sort of sophisticated download manager could resume it or perform the necessary CRC checks. Use the torrents (info here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...rrent-download) and you don't have to worry about that. There was also a 3.1 torrent listed on gameupdates as well a while back, but still had to use moddb to get the 3.2 patch.

i do believe moddb offers direct downloads from their servers for anyone logged into the moddb website but they change stuff all the time so this may not be true anymore

[saamohod]

Sorry for being so backward, but what is M2?

[Loki_999]

Sorry for being so backward, but what is M2?

Medieval 2

[Legourou]

I've been playing this and Stainless Steel for years; still not tired of it.

The way all of these hosted mods are detailed really makes me sad that it's not financially feasible for professional developers to put this much time and effort into a game, because after years and updates, this feels like an entirely new game all it's own.

Only when your council asks you to to start trading with Mordor or the Elves decide to take over the Misty Mountains and Moria do you realize that this is simply a mod cultivated over years by people who have no financial stake into it's creation but heart, frustrated breakthroughs, visual artistry from a slew of artists, and time. Sooooo much time.

I paid 20$ for this version and I'm sure people who paid full price would all agree that this mod is huge in it's capacity to stand alone and feel like a game you bought at Gamestop. Buying this game is like getting a few games for the price of one.

[ElvenKind]

Some gross generalizations in that guide:1) Security is only really an issue if you have installed to a secure location. So n00bs who install games to their default location (eg: C:\program files\etc....) get what they deserve. Those who set up a dedicated gaming partition have no such problems. 2) The problem with downloads is mainly because they are bloody huge files and even with modern download speeds they are still hefty, so yes, corruptions can occur. The main problem here is the main repository is modddb, which doesn't (as far as i recall) give a direct download link, so if the download botches up, I don't think any sort of sophisticated download manager could resume it or perform the necessary CRC checks. Use the torrents (info here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...rrent-download) and you don't have to worry about that. There was also a 3.1 torrent listed on gameupdates as well a while back, but still had to use moddb to get the 3.2 patch.3) I presume that part about not putting the install files in the game directory is more of just a precaution, in that if you blitz your install directory, you lose the install files. It shouldn't cause any problems in itself.

Well, you sound like someone who knows what to do and how , while on the other hand, there are so many of other users which are not so good with PCs and technology. That's why we are here to help them, and guide them. One of my TWC friends has a saying in his signature: "Blessed be the noobs, cause they shall inherit the forums." He is a wise man.

[FireFreak111]

Definitely worth it. In fact, I haven't played a campaign of vanilla Medieval. Only Third Age. Its worth it, for I believe its the only good Middle-earth game representation out there.

[Pyres Δt Varanasi]

Well, you sound like someone who knows what to do and how , while on the other hand, there are so many of other users which are not so good with PCs and technology. That's why we are here to help them, and guide them. One of my TWC friends has a saying in his signature: "Blessed be the noobs, cause they shall inherit the forums." He is a wise man.

Right He Is (Yoda's Voice) .
Wise Word he is right when we are gone the Noobs will be our successors and future moderators.

[DrBeast]

Note to self: don't post stuff at 6am, man. You're making a fool of yourself

[Flinn]

go with it, you'll not regret.

tons of hours with "regular" TATW, plus much more with all the other submods available, and if this is not enough, people is working on new submods too.

I stopped playing M2TW back in 2011, but since last year, after I discovered this mod, I spend almost 70% of my free time playing it (and I don't have so much, unfortunately )

F

[Aldor]

Apart from the mods that are so much better then the original game, M2TW itself was already fun to play.

If you want to play a vanilla M2TW campaign, I do suggest that you do it before mods or otherwise you won't find it as entertaining anymore.

But as the others have said. You buy many total war games at ones that greatly beat (humiliate) the original total war games.

Also if you like multiplayer, many hotseats are hosted for mods (and vanilla).

NB: For multiplayer battles, I must direct you to RTW (the best vanilla game), though less player play it now there is still a comunity both on official server and on gameranger. Wouldn't buy RTW since MP has a steep learning curve.

[SRACon17]

Definitely worth it. In fact, I haven't played a campaign of vanilla Medieval. Only Third Age. Its worth it, for I believe its the only good Middle-earth game representation out there.

Third Age Total War is the best, but imo The Last Days mod for M&B is really good too

[PandaChef]

Is the only way to play MP TATW is hotseating? Is that good, I am not sure it would be much fun if you couldnt play battles especially with unreliable auto resolve.

Whats the MoS sub mod for TATW?