Downloads: ___DarthMod_M2TW_Lite_Version_1.3D___

___DarthMod_M2TW_Lite_Version_1.3 update D___

This is the new standalone DarthMod for all of you who want to enhance their experience with this game
What it contains is the following in addition to first DM and now evolving.

Update History from top to down

-Realistic Darth unit movement speeds (No insect like moving anymore and more vital your decisions in the battlefield since the units now cannot teleport)

-Realistic Darth mass integration (Chaos in the battlefield like true medieval battles, devastating heavy knight charges, formation penetrations etc.)

-Temporary 2H unit fix introduced by Lusted and balanced by me(I have used the Janissary animation and balanced the stats in a way that AI manages them well in campaign and in battlefield)

-Realistic Darth projectile speeds and trajectories (No more mortar like crossbows, crossbowmen and firearms men can only fire when they have a clear line of sight and not on top of others thus making them less powerful.Especially the firearms, before they had an invisible arc firing and killing anyone)

-New special longbow arrow model (A gift to the longbowmen to give them the advantage they deserved)

-All factions unlocked

-Some very minor adjustments in the EDU file concerning the stats(More armour to Gothic Knights and Byzantine Kataphracts and a few others)

-Reduced fatalities for extra long and decisive battle melees

-Improved animation swings per soldier for more realistic and tense battle visuals (so that there are no idle melee visuals)

Open source 1 Updated 27/12/2006

-Corrects bugs of ballista/cannon tower and venetian armour
-Advanced DarthMod stats phase 1 (increase of defence/armour with certain algorithm to improve endurance of battles, various balance corrections, new costs settings for better AI/campaign, improved Byzantine army stats, Elephant endurance etc. )
-New wall settings (plain wall arrows do not kill too many troops)
-New projectile settings.(Plain archers fire carpet arrow firing now...try the longbowmen and Agincourt battle to test! Fire rate=improved)
-All dismounted troops that were unavailable are now available in the building queue/mercenary pool
-New mass settings for more penetrating heavy cavalry and more variance according to each type. (For example Byzantine Cataphract cavalry are simply tanks)
-My first pure AI modification for M2TW. Have created 2 formations to substitute the previous CA default with minor changes and have manipulated a lot the config AI for hopefully a better and more challenging battleground

Open source 2 Updated 27/12/2006

-Corrected bug of mercenary file in first open source beta(thanks for reporting it to me so quickly)
-Corrected issue of slow movement Heavy Cavalry and slow turning around (Tks Norbak and others who reported)
-Improved Janissary Heavy infantry Balance (As asked)

Open source 3 Updated 28/12/2006

-Corrected CTD siege bug when rams finished their door penetration.

Open source 4 Updated 31/12/2006

-Included 2 new arrow models. The horse archer bow which has less range and more flat trajectory. and the eastern composite bow with large power and flatter trajectory than the normal.
-With the help of these 2 new models, all archers have been balanced in a unique way and each culture will have each own special archers. For example, the Mongols have the best, more rapid and dangerous horse archers in the game, Longbowmen will fire even more rapidly than the median, composite bowmen will be superior from westerners bowmen etc.
-Includes Darth_Diplomacy-Campaign AI version 1.0…you must try it.(Removed the previous of Shaba’s)
-Optimised the Darth formation AI battle system
-Made walls and towers adjustments for more realistic endurance and fire rates
-Fixed siege ladder conjunction and effectiveness
-Siege battles will be the best experience so far witnessed. (Careful AI strategy, difficult gate invasion, realistic wall assaults etc.)
-Fixed some minor issues in projectiles
-Advanced Darth Stats Phase 2 (stat_delay techniques, General_unit mobility, Powerful and realistic Cavalry wedge….many many more)
-Fixed and included the correct DarthMod.cfg file for no more resetting of your settings
-A lot to witness yourself in battle and campaign!

Open Source 5 Updated 1/1/2007

-Have included Darth Formations M2TW version 1.0 (Have forgotten to do so yesterday)


Open source 6 Updated 4/1/2007

-Advanced Darth Stats phase 3 (Faster animation swings for infantry (were by CA too slow, and improved infantry charge and coherence with innovative stat fire technique, new balances for some units etc.)
-New arrow model for mongol horse archers
-Innovative new method for unique per projectile delay control for supreme variance of roles and power of projectile units
-Using this I balanced horse projectiles to fire more realistically and less rapidly (Now they are as they should be in real life)
-Inserted some more dismounted knights to building queues
-Improved attack bandwith and dynamics of siege ladders and towers
-Made missile cavalry to hold back in sieges as asked

Open source 7 Updated 6/1/2007

-Eliminated AI combat occasional passiveness and made it more determined to attack you when it is out-missiled.(Yes even better than this CA had to offered in the patch and very important for your battles against AI. Much more difficult opponent now)
-Seriously Improved/finalyzed siege ladder/towers clearance attack method

Open Source 8 Updated 10/1/2007

-Balanced Peasants as asked
-Balanced 2 handed units as asked
-Improved Campaign AI siege units preference
-Improved AI Formation that attacks gates
-Found finally way to override the effects for missiles so arrow trails to be eradicated to be more realistic and give better fps. (Use only my Launch_DarthMod.bat and the 2 files copied in the original data file of the game with the structure I provide in my file to use it)
*to be used in other mods correct your .bat files to have these lines:
"medieval2.exe --io.file_first @MyMod.cfg"
(MyMod=any name you play with mod switch) and of course use my 2 files (descr_arrow_trail_effects,descr_flaming_projectiles) to be copied in original "data" file of the game.

Open Source 9 Updated 12/1/2007

-Included new DarthFormations for M2TW 2.0
-Peasant balance completed
-Finalised cavalry slow turn problem (Combination of files but this last one is included in the battle config). Now cavalry will break easier and re-attack.
-Seriously improved Darth Projectile system (Archery has variation in aiming and general skill, and also more obvious use of carpet fire. Guns are very effective against mass of troops(Can kill many even in 3-4 ranks behind, but not good as sharpshooters as before, therefore used historically)
-Fixed a lot of things in EDU(Aztec are cheaper so can build hordes, French can built more easily some special cavalry units, some extra mini-balances etc.)

Open Source 10 Updated 20/1/2007

-Innovative new pathfinding modding. This corrects and improves the following:
1)More humanised grouping and moving of troops in the battlefield.(Less synchronisation between them, occasional AI column widthing when moving etc.)
2)More variation of penalties and bonuses for every type of unit and terrain so that AI can use them better in pre-calc.(Cavalry will rule the open terrain battlefield, will be afraid of harsh terrain, infantry will be good for all around defending etc.)
3)Corrects probably and decisively the unit charge cohesion problem (Not eradicated but improved)

-Balanced stats to make battles more prolonged but also to adapt with the new pathfinding model.(To all modders:You should be careful if you want to use my pathfinding.txt bcs it will seriously affect your EDU's balance)

-My new Darth Diplomacy/Campaign War AI packI will release it soon as standalone)
What it contains in short is:
1)Much better diplomacy negotiations (Able to form quick alliances, military passages, trade agreements, vassals etc. with those who logic says they should accept in their current war state.
2)The pope will no longer accuse you when you are obviously defending your lands from catholic intruders (extra mini script)
3)All pope interactions enormously improved.(The AI factions which attack you will be immediately be excommunicated if you have good piety and they do not, You can wage wars against catholics if you have proven the god's will by building temples and following crusades which will boost your pope's acknowledgement more realistically etc.)
4)Alliance packs will be formed and last realistically and you should not betray them but rather provoke them to attack you so to gain general favour (Like in real war you can press them with your armies in their borders or leave smthg undefended but never attack unprovoked or the whole world will know and destroy you)
5)You should be careful when you sack or exterminate population or generaly your dread factors because you will cause hate among the world (Maybe you like this)
6)If a nation grows to strong all other mini-nations will form alliances against it to cut it down
7)Difficulty levels now not so aggressive in H or VH. In fact it is balanced a lot out.
8)Crusades are seriously more easy to reach their target and if attacked by another catholic, the Pope and all other catholics will curse him with endless hate.
9)All campaign rates (Taxes, income, siege attrition etc.) have been realistically balanced)

-Merchant trade resources made more profitable.

-Advanced Darth Stats Final Phase
1)New Darth Mass system
2)New Cavalry physics for better and more realistic cavalry warfare(Will be more self protected and last longer in battle while they will try to keep distance from the enemy in almost constant moving)
3)Normalised all animations (Cavalry attack swings humanised, projectile animations made quicker per skill and type, etc.)
4)Elephants balanced realistically
5)Revamped a lot of new things

-New Darth Projectile settings
1)New arrow model for peasant/militia archers
2)Together with new EDU settings, all projectile settings are normalised in animation and delays and vary between skill/type of weapon.
3)Guns now fire realistically and do not lag for super timed volleys
-Offset variances for a lot of projectiles give unique character for each weapon in visuals and effectiveness.

-Included new Darth Formations 2.5
1)Corrected the code so that Darth AI swapping system is utilised correctly for the AI and does not swap to default when it attacks.
2)This new method gives finally the special character for each army and for example you will anticipate historical difficulty for each faction you counter.(Byzantines use deceiving strategies, Turks the usual Nomad technique, Germans the usual concrete delta formation, French the hot headed but effective cavalry charge etc.)
3)Improved the siege code to enhance AI attack bandwith, make it patrol around the castle and attack your weak spots and probably fix the known CA spy/gate bug

-Added GrandViz’s campaign character movement settings
-Added Alpaca’s mod switch FMV’s show fix
-Added Wipeout’s particle effect mod for better fps
-Added a lot more to witness yourself!!!....

Open Source 11 Updated 23/1/2007

-Corrected all inconsistencies reported by the community and beta team which I thank very much( Siege AI plaza defence, Character movement points too many, Campaign Income too large, peasants etc.)
-Updated the formations to version 3.0. This is a stable version which corrects some flaws detected and maximises the priority prefer of the extra formations with incremental priority system method. Also the techniques involved are securing a determined AI to attack you relentlessly until everyone routs or is destroyed. Passiveness is eradicated.
-Included Darth Violance melee system.(I cannot find words to describe this to you. Just play some battles and watch how melees look. Watch Cavalry vs Cavalry battles and hold your breath, infantry to murder each other in frenzy...the tension is higher than ever! Just do not touch any of my files to see this bcs it envolves many for this.
-Updated the pathfinding mod (Which contributes to the violance and realistic visuals)
-A lot of minor new things...have to rest for a while I hope you like this version now until the next enhancement comes.

Open Source 12 Updated 26/1/2007

-Increased Mercenary Costs
-Decreased Arab/Eastern upkeep costs to help them build larger armies
-Increased +4 morale for all units except sieges (Together with other settings now battles last longer)
-Updated all the projectile system(Decreased lethality of horse archery to realistic levels, Gunmen improved in close fire barrage etc.)
-Revamped the whole AI_config to various matters that affect gameplay in battle
1)Improved thresholds and responses
2)Improved melee offsets
3)Made AI more careful in its attack approach (although sometimes it does not work better for it but it is visually more humanised)
4)Updated some siege and bridge matters
5)Was forced to remove all the swapping formation system because sometimes the AI got confused and did not react as I wanted to. So I created 2 generic formations to help the AI use a straightforward method of attack than swap to very different formations sometimes. The AI system of M2TW cannot accept for some reasons my techniques I used for RTW. This has to be tested by the beta team and any willing person to see if it actually is better than the formations pack 3.0.
-Radically improved the pathfinding method and together with other settings the chaos of battle is as close to reality as never before. This is good because now the elite units are self depended and respond to the incoming threats even without your orders while the more low level units tend to need reminding in order to advance. The impetuous units can really be a let go force although you must rally them from time to time. Cavalry will be a self depended force. When it attacks it will lethally find the best way to survive, move and kill without you to micromanage it. Maybe they need some orders to retreat if they are too impetuous. Generally the units are not idle as before but tend to quickly respond to threats and move in the whole battlefield like independed men. This makes the battlefield very uneasy to command but maybe easier to observe since you can be more sure about your men's survival ability than reminding them of all the threats. Also this makes battles to become more realistic, that is to give some quick commands and then see the outcome because later everything becomes almost uncontrolled. This may help the human player against the AI in some battles but surely can lose many times because of the loss of cohesion created by the impetus. So try to use the guard mode now as much as possible to tell your men to stick to formation or fight as a brutal barbarian with trust to your men's courage.

This is maybe the most important OS of mine since it changes the whole feel of the battles. Please all try as many battles as you can and tell me your thoughts. Bad and good are equally welcome to help me optimise the new Violence system of DarthMod.

Open Source 13 Updated 27/1/2007

-Corrected all issues reported yesterday in AI section (thank you all)
-Brought back the 2 default hard coded formations used by CA and use them in manner of internal grouping system. They are declared in configAI but have no role. So they are used internally over my 2 generic formation roles and with other adjustments seems that AI behaves a lot more intelligently and less straightforwardly and predicted.

-Open Source 14 Updated 30/1/2007

-Revamped all the battle dynamics again. The evolution of the pathfinding system and its changes affects everything and had to re-balance since there were reasoned reports of idle cavalry. Now with all the new settings involved everything seems to work as planned. The only thing I cannot work out yet is how to remove the strange foot troop radius which makes them sometimes isolated and scattered. But surely this has been enormously enhanced with this new version. What you will notice immediately is a faster response of all troops and a far more mobile and deadly cavalry. All this by not micromanaging but of course if you do not issue orders you will soon see a theater of mob battles but maybe this is what you have hoped for as a barbarian general. The troops will follow their own attack-defend paths even if you do not order them once they get in contact.
-Updated all the campaign system of settlement and database. Now each turn may reveal a bad or good surprise to the player since the new thresholds affect the dynamics of the campaign more enforced. For example if you have no governor in a city it will suffer more and vice versa, corruption will occur more often to feudal castle governors who can rule through fear with more effectiveness. A new conquer of an opposite religion province can surely be a tough experience for complete pacification and surely you must counter the opposition of agents and heretics since you will have bad surprises of religion revolts and betrayal of your backstabbing generals who will prefer to take the province from the king if they find the chance and have bad loyalty. Generally the campaign must be thought more than quickly hit the turn button.
I will need extensive testing for this by the beta testers
-Corrected crusade issue where AI found difficulties to reach the target.
-Many minor balance content added

-Open Source 15 Updated 2/2/2007

-Included the final hopefully siege pathfinding fix version to resolve the known CA bug when AI attacks you with ladders or towers(You will notice the AI to storm you like middle earth orcs!). Everything balanced in a way that attack bandwith is not too strong, not too weak and of course no idle stance of ladders any more. That means, AI will use the ladders to the end of the attack. The one ladder usage when men are in short is still existent.
-Enhanced the ferociousness, effectiveness and self-dependence of each unit with pathfinding methods. In fact I use a paradox offset method where max width < min width and vice versa. With minus settings I increase the cohesion of units and their effective vicinity. They will respond more quickly to threats and multiple fronts according to unit's stats and animations.
-With new pathfinding methods and new projectile settings, sieges are now also better and LOS of projectile units is better despite the bug of CA which places them too back from the battlements. They will fire better from the battlements now.
-Balanced siege health of engines and some kind of doors and also have given better fire arc for towers so that they can punish better the besiegers.
-Made diplomacy better and improved the easy "give region" effect.
-Included the excellent gun smoke mod of Headlock& PlasticFigurine. (I eagerly await the full mod for the artillery)

--Updated Gun/Artillery smoke effect mod by Headlock& PlasticFigurine 6/2/2007
--Included Darth Formations War Pack 3.8
--Included Darth Diplomacy/Campaign AI 2.3

-Open Source 16 Updated 8/2/2007

-Enhanced Violence/chaos system of melees and AI determination of attack.
-Improved various things in siege battle warfare
-Improved the traitor issue in campaign (Have to check this because had no time)
-Improved various Pope interactions
-Improved some things in diplomacy (You will be able to achieve easier military passages, alliances, vassals and....mutual attack agreement packs. This will decide your world war later)
-Improved footmen Gun effectiveness
-Made Byzantine Capital (Constantinoupolis) to begin as a trully magnificent town comparing to others in the game. This will surely help them withstand the later turkish onslaught better.

-Open Source 17 Updated 11/2/2007

-Included fix of revolving musket ranks.(For better shooting efficiency of guns)
-Included the updated Headlock&PlasticFigurine gun/artillery smoke mod
-Improved efficiency of pikes/polearms/halberds by better reactions
-This is a breakthrough to be tested. I Have checked KnightErrant ingenious formatted file of battle_models.db (thank you KnightErrant) and started to examine how I could edit something there. I changed the called by me "animation vectors" of each unit to more professional values to improve the melee efficiency of all units and also provide variance of skills.
The previous universal melee animation vectors were:
-0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002
And now are by me:

mounted horses
-0.9 0 0 -0.9 2.5 1.5

unshielded infantry
-0.09 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded light infantry
-0.7 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded heavy infantry
-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

polearm infantry
-0.15 0 0 -0.95 1.2 1.2

2handed sword/axe infantry
-0.75 0 0 -0.75 1.2 1.2

and for cavalry mount:

0 0 2345 0 0 0 0 0 0 (was 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0)

These animation vectors are tremendously affecting the melee efficiency of each troop seperately. Do not bombard me with PM questions...I will not answer to them at all for the time being since I have little time and also these values still remain a "mystery" to me solved only by the dark side intuition than a direct algorithm. Still I have a theory in this which will describe in the future.
But nevertheless the dark side has helped me to find these "proper" values and now you will not only fight better and more prolonged battles (Did not change any of other stats from OS16 and you will see a big difference) but also I may have corrected the known shield bug. Now you will visually see each troop to efficiently block hits with his polearm, sword and of course shield which previously had too small effective pitch radius as it seemed and so this is why it never or seldomly triggered. The beta team and the community will use its time to tell me if I am actually true in this and I provide the files not only to enhance DarthMod experience but for all modders to use my file \SEGA\Medieval II Total War\data\unit_models\battle_models.db enclosed.
I provide also the back up with name backbattle_models.db for you to revert easily.
Please urgently play as many battles as you can and tell me if you are pleased.(Heroic melees with lots of blocks and attack moves, more efficient and moving cavalry etc.)

-Open Source 18 Updated 13/2/2007

-Inserted my new animation vector modding which improves battle efficiency of units and creates a complex armour upgrade system with a non-straightforward method.(Only known bugs in this are the wrong torch offsets which I may correct in the future)
For modders:This is the same standalone breakthrough2 file I uploaded yesterday so do not panic and preserve your changes.

The new base parameters are:

mounted horses
-0.9 0 0 -0.9 2.5 1.3

General mounted horses
-0.9 0 0 -0.9 2.5 0.5

unshielded infantry
-0.09 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded light infantry
-0.7 0 0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

shielded heavy infantry
-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

polearm infantry
-0.15 0 0 -0.95 1.2 1.2

2handed sword/axe infantry
-0.75 0 0 -0.75 1.2 1.2

and for cavalry mount:

0 0 45 0 0 0 0 0 0

and for elephant mount

0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0

And the armour upgrade system is for example:

I take again for example these vectors:
-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 1.0

armour ug1

-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 0.8

armour ug2

-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 0.6

armour ug3

-0.95 0.6 0.0 -0.65 1.2 0.4

The theory behind this may be totally different but it works as I want so better to accept it as is. Open to hear from anyone anything he can find to enhance it.

-New special formation command system (used in my old RTW formations) forcing phalanxes/infantry to behave properly, generals to stop being hotheaded and support the infantry coherent approach. You have to see this. For example voulgier has awfully slow phalanx animation making them completely useless for the AI. Now the AI will swap to unphalanx to be able to walk together with the vanguard and then swap timely to phalanx and defend itself when the melee starts. The AI tactics become more cautious and clever although they somewhat lose their barbaric feeling.
-Made mounted crossbowmen have less accuracy so not too unbalancing
-Changed some siege AI things

-Open Source 19 Updated 16/2/2007

-Changed a lot of things in total AI manipulation. Have completed the new method of infantry/phalanx correct AI manipulation. Have inserted new thresholds of AI army. The AI army will use better the infantry center and the cavalry as satellites or devastating frontal charges. Wll more effectively use reserves and fix a steady line of battle. General unit is a lot more conservative and uses strategic positions to command the army. Hopefully, siege AI is also improved. Do not tell me about the spy problem of gates because it is not my fault (As I read in some posts around from fellow co-modders) and tried hard to find the solution for it but hopefully the patch will resolve it. I have no more tools in my hands.
Also unit cohesion charges are enormously improved.
-Adapted my innovative pathfinding system to my new animation vector parameters. As a result = more ferocious melees, more effective AI.
-Updated the siege pathfinding method for optimisation of ladders/siege ladders.
-Improved rewards of guilds
-Made late plate armour units to have more armour variance from other troops thus making them (Together with the animation vector parameters) trully magnificent and effective in battle.
-Corrected bug where new Constantinoupolis enhanced parameters I gave prevented it to expand to huge_city.

Will need extensive beta testing report from my beta team and the fans so as to confirm that all is well to update to 1.3D. After the 1.3D will be a new DM1.4 with new graphics and map (Border_Reiver) (Hopefully).
The only bug I know is the side-effect of my vector animation parameters which makes many torches to offset (according to animation offset). This is not affecting the gameplay but only the visual. Can be fixed but must fix also a lot of new torch models per animation vector offset = too much work for me.

-Open Source 20 Updated 19/2/2007

-Added my proposed Shield Fix idea until the patch arrives for DM.
It does the following:
Preserve all stats and increase the melee defense value and only this with the shield stat value. So the arrow defense will still remain and in melee the minus shield will affect the total defense by zero.
It fits more sense to me that this proposed so far...what do you say?

For example: Armour=A, Melee Defence=M, Shield Defense=S

Proposed Fix: A,M+S,S (With shield arrow defense and balance of total defense)

Previous Fix so far is: A+S/2,M+S/2,0 (With no shield arrow defense and general balance of defense)

I am just afraid of autocalc for this...nothing else.

Removed my previous idea for shield fix which was too ambitious to work. I thank you all for the quick and helpful feedback.

-Balanced some things in EDU
-Improved diplomacy negotiations in some aspects
-Made AI ceasefire to last longer


Thanks to:

Leading Beta DarthMod_M2TW Team member:
Headlock (The heir of NoRbAk)

Current DarthMod_M2TW beta testers:
NoRbAk
Coman
IZ-master
The Border Reiver
Havoc04
G3N3RAL GR13V0US
Marine hoplite
PeteSKtemplar


DarthMod old member Wipeout140 for general help and support

Lusted, GrandViz, Alpaca, (For usage of their ideas respectively (2hand fix, Character Movement, Mod Switch FMV fix)

Usurper, Crypel, Fallen.Soldier, Publius (For their art in DarthMod screens)

I thank all of you the fans who press me to do these things....
I thank all TWcenter staff who continue to support the community despite all the recent outbreaks.(Past or New I hope TWcenter stays in a good working state with all the old stuff as well)

And last but not least....I thank Creative Assembly UK/Australia for creating this magnificent game in a way that modders can "play" with it.


Darth Vader

19/2/2007

-Installation Instructions-

-Open the installation package(After you unzip it in TW center mirror zip mode)
-Manually browse the installer to install it where you have your main game directory like this for example:
C:\program files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War
and not:
C:\program files\SEGA\Medieval II\data = wrong
-You will have now a Launch_DarthMod.bat in your main game directory which you will use/double click each time to play DarthMod(If you want fix your own shortcut for it in your desktop but the installer will create one for you automatically if you want)
-Play!

Notices:
-You will not be able to play historical battles unter DarthMod unless you copy the whole "world" file in DarthMod folder with the same structure as added.
-DarthMod does not use/mod other mods or original game so you can play/swap with it at any time.(Concerning you have installed it correctly as advised above)
-It is highly recommended to play DarthMod Lite 1.3 without any other mods installed as it bug free tested as is. I have no responsibility nor I reply to repeatitive mails when you want to mod DarthMod.
-Open source thread is providing all the valuable gameplay files that all other fellow modders use in combination so better to use theirs if you want a flavour of DarthMod than the product itself.
-Of course open source is evolving each day so better to occasionaly check it and add the updated files as DarthMod evolves in order not to lose a day of enhancement!