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    Default FATW - The Dominion of Men FAQs, DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

    Mod Information for The Fourth Age: Total War - The Dominion of Men






    The Fourth Age Development Team have released the complete, full version of The Dominion of Men, the long-awaited final instalment of the multi-award-winning series.

    The Fourth Age: Total War - The Dominion of Men is a mod for Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion that brings Tolkien's Middle-earth to the game, bursting at the seams with innovative gameplay features, splendid visuals and audio, beautiful textual descriptions and mind-boggling attention to detail, and described by TWC's official reviewer as...

    "awesome... the best mod of Barbarian Invasion that I've ever seen. Almost everything in the mod uses the Rome engine to the fullest of its capabilities, [and] the story is beautifully incorporated."

    So take the opportunity to experience an exciting campaign inspired by Tolkien's unfinished manuscript, The New Shadow, and savour the taste of the true spirit of Middle-earth in this lore-accurate iteration of Tolkien's world!




    "I['ve] played many games and many mods of the Total War series but your work is by far the best conversion and complete overhaul I have seen yet. The campaign is very immersive and motivating." (anumen, Moddb)

    "Best Tolkien experience in Total War (or any other strategy game)." (Stark1.0, Moddb)

    "Simply put, one of the most polished, well executed mod projects I have every played. The attention do detail in all aspects - graphics, music, lore, is almost unparalleled." (Pleistorus, Moddb)

    "The attention to detail, faithfulness to original source material, amazing music, variety of factions, and fun replayability make this an awesome mod. Excellent work, folks!" (HighlandLaddie777, Moddb)

    "Simply the best RTW mod. Amazing! The level of detail and painstaking attention to the lore of Middle Earth makes this mod a must for any LOTR fan!" (Rahonbass, Moddb)

    "This is one of the best mods for any total war game. It's like a completely new game." (Balgeron, Moddb)

    "A great, spectacular and just plainly refined mod. Fourth Age Total War oozes polish from every pore, with a lovingly detailed story, carefully and cleverly constructed gameplay mechanics, stunning visuals and incredible immersion...All in all, I would say there are no perfect mods, but Fourth Age Total War damn well comes close." (SuperTechmarine, Moddb)



    Mod Name: The Fourth Age: Total War - The Dominion of Men

    Platform: Barbarian Invasion 1.6/1.61

    Modfoldered: Yes, completely (bi/fatw)

    Timeframe: Western Middle-earth during the early Fourth Age (FO 356 - 856)

    Description: The Fourth Age: Total War - The Dominion of Men is a high quality full-conversion modification of Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion, inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's unfinished manuscript entitled "The New Shadow" set during the Fourth Age of Middle-earth. While this is the full release, feedback is always welcome. Such feedback should be posted in these forums and will be taken into account for post-release enhancement patches.


    Full Release Download

    You will need to download and install the full release and then do the same for the add-on patch.

    Files (Moddb): The Dominion of Men (EXE) PLEASE USE THIS LINK
    Files (DepositFiles): The Dominion of Men (RAR) (Only use if link above fails) [link may expire around mid 2016]


    Add-on (Patch) Download


    Files (Moddb): 3.4 Not Quite Done (ZIP)
    Files (Moddb): 3.4 Huge Units Balance Patch (ZIP)

    Installation Instructions

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    BEFORE you get started:

    This version requires BI to be patched to 1.6, so please make sure you have patched your game before trying to install and play. If you do not patch to 1.6, then you will be unable to play the campaign and the Historical Battles and you will start getting messages regarding scripts, models, files, the “select an item from the list” one, and so forth. This has nothing to do with the mod, it simply means you have not patched your BI to 1.6 before installing.

    If you have the open-beta installed then please delete it before installing (you just need to delete the "fatw" folder under your bi folder).


    Installing using the Installer (EXE)

    After the installer (fatw3.exe) has downloaded you will need to run it and follow the prompts. Make sure that you point the installer to the main Rome folder of your game. This is the folder that contains your Rome and BI executable files. The path to that folder will differ according to which version of the game you own. For example, it might be “C:\Program Files\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War”. In Steam it will be something like " C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Rome Total War Gold"

    The Dominion of Men does not touch your original game files and is perfectly safe to install as long as you point it to the Rome folder. When the installer completes you should find a shortcut icon on your desktop. You can use this to launch the mod if you do not have Steam.

    STEAM USERS

    However, if you have Steam then you cannot use the shortcut (you will get a script error telling you that the horde_min_units feature is not supported)). Instead you will launch the mod from Steam as follows:

    Go to your Steam library, right-click Rome Total War Gold (or whatever version you have), go to properties, then in the general tab click 'Set Launch Options' and type "-mod:bi/fatw -show_err -nm -ne" (without the speech marks but with the spaces). Then when you launch BI through Steam the mod will start (to resume vanilla BI just delete the launch option text). The images below illustrate the procedure...

    Attachment 333842Attachment 333843Attachment 333844Attachment 333841


    Installing using the RAR

    Some systems do not work with the installer. In such cases we have provided a RAR file. You will need a tool such as WinRAR to unRAR (uncompress) it. Once you've done this go into the expanded folders and find the "fatw" folder (if there are two then it is the child and not the parent folder that you need) and copy that folder into the "bi" folder (in the main Rome folder) of your game (so you will have a bi/fatw folder structure).

    If you have Steam then simply follow the Steam instructions as found in the EXE instructions above.

    If you have some other version of the game then you will need to create a shortcut as follows:

    Right-click the RomeTW-BI.exe and "send to" > desktop (i.e. create a shortcut on the desktop). Find the desktop icon and right-click it and select "properties". In the "shortcut" tab find the "target" field and append " -mod:bi/fatw -nm -ne -show_err" (do not include the speech marks but do include the spaces, including that first space). Click OK to close.

    NOTE: THIS MOD RUNS IN WINDOWED MODE. Some few versions of the game may work without windowed mode being active. You can deactivate it by removing the "-ne" from the launch options/target line.

    When you first run the mod you may find the window doesn't fill all of your desktop. This is easily remedied by going into the video settings of the mod and setting your battlemap and campaign resolutions to the same resolution as your desktop. (this can also be done by going into your preferences.txt file (found in the fatw/preferences folder) and changing battle_resolution and campaign_resolution to the same values as your desktop).

    MAC USERS

    Check THIS THREAD for issues connected with installing and running on a Mac.


    PATCH INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

    Note that you only need the latest patch (currently 3.4), all previous patches are included.

    1. Unzip the 34_Not_Quite_Done.zip file to a location of your choice.
    2. Copy the data folder inside into your .../bi/fatw folder.
    3. When prompted, choose to overwrite all existing files and folders.
    4. Start FATW: DoM in your usual way and enjoy!



    Troubleshooting

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Problem: When I try to run the installer I am told it is not a valid win32 application.

    Explanation: This can result from a corrupted download but is more likely that there is a compatability issue between your system and the installer software.

    Solution: Download and install the mod using the RAR file instead of the EXE



    Problem: When trying to play the campaign I am told that I need to select an item from a list.

    Explanation: This error usually means your base game is not patched up to BI 1.6

    Solution: Download and apply the patch or patches from Sega.com. You can check your version of RTW and BI by starting the game and selecting the Options in the main menu. The version number will appear in the top-right of the screen. See installation instructions for more details.



    Problem: When I try to run the mod I am told that the horde_min_units feature is not supported.

    Explanation: This is a BI feature and thus trying to run the mod through Rome will result in this message. This message also occurs when a Steam user attempts to use the shortcut the mod installer generates.

    Solution: Make sure the shortcut is pointing to the BI.exe and not the Rome.exe (it should be if you pointed the installer to the right path). If you are a Steam user then use the Steam launcher not the shortcut. See installation instructions for more details.



    Problem: The mod only covers a portion of the screen.

    Explanation: By default the mod runs in windowed mode as Windows updates created an error wherein the non-windowed mode would not work with popular versions of the game.

    Solution: You can try switching off windowed mode by removing -ne from the launch options/short cut though this may cause your game to not start. To run in windowed mode and to have the game/mod fill the whole screen you will need to ensure that your game resolution matches your desktop resolution. See installation instructions for more details.






    Team Members: Aradan, CountMRVHS, Éorl, Webba, MasterOfNone

    Visit THEFOURTHAGE.WIKIDOT.COM to find out more about the mod. We especially recommend our Starter Guide which introduces you to the basic new features of the campaign.
    Last edited by webba84; November 01, 2019 at 11:30 PM.

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    Default Re: The Fourth Age: Total War - The Dominion of Men DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

    Frequently Asked Questions
    The Fourth Age: Total War FAQ

    Q. I don't understand feature X of the mod, is there anywhere I can get more information about how things work?

    A. Yes, we have a wiki here for this very purpose. You can of course ask questions in this forum as well or, better yet, play the mod more. Experimentation is a great teacher!

    Q. I want to assault Helms Deep, why can't we play with settlements in custom battles?

    A. To get settlements to work the way we wanted them to in the campaign we had to do several quite extreme, some might say cruel, things to the way settlement cultures and levels work. This means that when settlements are activated in custom battles you can get all sorts of weird, buggy, results that really would not be that fun to play. That said, if you do want to experiment with them you can activate settlements for custom battles by going to the ...fatw/data directory and opening custom_locations.txt. You will see many entries like this one

    Code:
    custom_location        Numeriador
    {
        location    35    168
        image        bi/fatw/data/menu/custom_battles/numeriador.tga
        sett_locked    yes
        summer        yes
    }


    Change
    Code:
        sett_locked    yes
    to
    Code:
        sett_locked    no
    and the settlement options will be available for that custom battle location.
    We are not responsible for any weird stuff that happens if you do this!


    Q. Do I need to install all the patches?

    A. No, the patches are cumulative so you only need to most recent one version 3.4. You can install 3.4 over 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 and all will work fine. You will only ever need to install one DoM patch.

    Q. Why the Fourth Age?

    A. The Rome: Total War system is just that - Total War. The setting in any other time, especially the War of the Ring, would mean that there are essentially two sides; you could make two giant factions, because there was little or no defection or diplomacy. Also, the War of the Ring happened in so short a period, that it would be impossible to reproduce it believably in a video game - at least using the R:TW engine. Thirdly, the numbers are so skewed that it would be impossible to win as the "good" side (the only reason they were victorious was because of timely and often unknown reinforcements at constant battles. Even if the reinforcements were there from the beginning, victory would be almost impossible. It was the surprise and position factor that won it most of the time).

    Q. How can there be total war in the Fourth Age when Tolkien has Men live on happily ever after?

    A. When you play R:TW, you are not reliving history. You are playing out an alternate reality. The same is true for FA:TW. In "The New Shadow," Tolkien talks about a new, growing threat. The Mod Team has set up a history of what has happened in the Fourth Age so far (seeing as Tolkien has not really explained it), and we continue on from a believable point. Our game starts at a crossroads of sorts; to make up a major war or fantastic event (like the forging of another ring, or the releasing of Morgoth) would be blasphemous... instead, we diverge from "history" where we believe it is quite harmonious with Tolkien's history (especially referenced and based on "The New Shadow.") As Balbor put it: "Gaul never invaded Egypt."

    Q. How can you include the Elves, since they all went over the Sea to the Undying Lands?

    A. It is a misconception that "all" the Elves left Middle-earth in the Fourth Age. The Elves of Mirkwood/Greenwood did not, for the most part, leave. Elves never had the great numbers of Men or Orcs, and their numbers have admittedly decreased, but after our story diverges/begins, what is to stop them from building back up? Once the game begins the player has total control. There is also the fact that the mod only starts about 350 years into the Fourth Age, and the Elves will not have had the time to decrease significantly. After all, what is 350 years to an Elf?

    Q. Is this the final release?

    A. Yes, the full release of version 3.0 of Fourth Age Total War - The Dominion of Men, and the 3.4 patch represent the complete and final release of the mod. However there are a variety of subods both complete and in the works that are also available for you to try out.

    Q. Is the Fourth Age: Total War a full mod conversion?

    A. Yes, every necessary aspect of the game is modded - including units, campaign map, battle map, buildings, video, audio, music, interface, graphics and animations.

    Q. Is the mod based on the books or the movies?

    A. This mod is based solely on the written works of J.R.R. Tolkien. We try to stay as true to the source material as is possible, and will not include anything even remotely associated with the movies.

    Q. What is the starting date?

    A. The starting date is set in FO 356, a bit more than two hundred years after the death of Aragorn and more than one hundred years after the death of his son, Eldarion.

    Q. What are the major factions?

    A. In The Dominion of Men the major factions of The Reunited Kingdom, Rohan, Harad, Adunabar, Dunland, Rhun, Dale, Elves and Dwarves are joined by the playable minor factions of Tharbad, Beornings, Rhovanion, Dorwinion, North Rhun, Khand, Harondor and Far Harad.

    Q. How big is the map and how many regions are there?

    A. The Dominion of Men features a full Middle-earth campaign map of around 170 regions and takes in the whole of the area of western Middle-earth as illustrated in the official maps in the back of the books.

    Q. Are there historical battles?

    A. Yes. We currently have 4 of them in the latest release, some taking place during the 3rd Age and some during the 4th (obviously before the mod's starting date). While these are not a huge priority for us right now if you have any great ideas for a historical battle, we would love to hear them!

    Q. Are monsters and creatures included?

    A. Trolls and Wargs are included, as are Mûmakil. Balrogs, dragons, eagles, fell beasts and Ents are not.

    Q. Are there navies?

    A. Yes, but ships will play an overall much smaller part in the strategy than R:TW; the mod - as in Tolkien's tale itself - is largely land-based in its focus.

    Q. Are there battle speeches, like Théoden's and Aragorn's in the movies?

    A. Sadly good voice-actors are rare and speeches are not at the top of our priority list. However, if you happen to sound like the son of Thengel, and would like to offer your help in this area there is still time to do so.

    Q. Is there new music?

    A. Yes, we have some great new music in this release.

    Q. Are there heroes?

    A. It depends how your family members conduct themselves, really. The potential for heroism is there.

    Q. Are there Wizards and magic?

    A. No, there are no Wizards. Touches of magic are in the mod, but not as sorcerers spouting fire out of their fingers or throwing fireballs. It is subtle, like the magic in the books - or even less prevalent than in the books, since magic has waned in the Fourth Age.

    Q. Are there guns and gunpowder?

    A. No, absolutely not.

    ----------------------------------------------

    If you have questions other than these, or questions about the FAQ, post them in the Feedback Thread. Bugs should go here, please check the known issues in the OP before posting. Please DO NOT start a new thread with questions that have already been answered in this FAQ.

    Last edited by webba84; November 01, 2019 at 11:25 PM. Reason: updated for 3.4

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    Default Re: FATW - The Dominion of Men FAQs, DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION

    Updated for version 3.4.

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