Some Bad News, but it's also Good news

Alrighty, this is slightly embarrassing because I just posted about big plans yesterday, but everything has changed.

Lanjane, the magnificent unit maker and ui creator, is no longer able to help the mod due to the fact that he needs to take care of things in RL, and he doesn't know if he will come back.. if he does, he doesn't know when. I want to personally thank him on all of the great things he has done for the RTW community, as well as my mods. I have known him since 2011, and I hope he can come back some day. Until then, I wish him the best of luck going forward in his life.

Now, the problem with him leaving is the mod now needs to change course in direction. There is absolutely no way I can continue with this mod and keep it consistent with what we have done with the previous releases, beginning with v3 Gallic Pride. I have to revert unit rosters to v2 Egyptian Makeover. Now, notice how I only said 'unit rosters', that means that all other features from v1-7 will stay in, as well as the intended features I had for v8..

Why am I going back to the old unit rosters?

I first need to provide a short backstory of why I am reverting:

In August I released the 2nd Version of the mod, making over Egypt. My plan was to then enhance all of the barbarian factions, by giving them some units to fill some holes. These were not going to be new units, but reskinned vanilla units. For example, Swordsmen for Germania, Archer Warband for Gaul. It was going to be it's own release, and I started with Gaul. One of the researchers who is no longer on the team convinced me to be more in depth with the rosters, and Lanjane also wanted this and offered to make the units. At first, I did not want to, I simply wanted vanilla style, with maybe some tweaks. However, Lanjane created some very beautiful units, and I could not resist.. thus Gallic Pride came about. However, I wondered if he would have enough desire and energy to continue with me on EVERY faction.. he seemed like he did, so we pressed on. The researcher left, and so the unit roster forming took a hit.. then around the Thracian release Lanjane became very busy and had no motivation to mod.. Then just today he gave me the news. With him gone, I see no need to continue with creating new units for every faction, as it's almost suicidal for the mod.. the mod simply WILL NOT live to see it's final state going in that direction. I have to go back to my original plan for units for this mod to succeed. Maybe when I am done, I can be more detailed with unit rosters.

So, why am I just not going with what I have, and making due with what is out there to continue?

It's simple: I want my mods to be consistent.. and by Lanjane leaving, his unit making and unit card making are no longer in the mod... There is no way the other factions will look or feel like the ones he worked on. The mod would be lopsided. Also, if I did continue in the same direction, it'd take me years to finish this. Even with Lanjane, we were not going to be finished until next fall as every faction is slowed down by the fact that units and their cards (and implementing them in general) are not easy or quick to make. It's a lot to implement a full unit, let alone a ton for each faction!
Put more simply: creating/editing units is hard and takes a long time, time that I do not have, or am willing to give. I am thankful that Lanjane did what he did, as it was not easy.

I will keep the old releases up and running, so you will always have access to the cool looking units, however I cannot continue in that direction.

The plan moving forward, and what you can expect?

I'll get all units and unit rosters reverted back to v2, where Egypt is a Hellenistic Kingdom. All other features will stay the same, so gameplay will remain..

For units going forward, I will first stick to vanilla units and reskins, to keep the original theme. I have a lot of other things that I would like to add into the mod to make the game balance complete, and by having units take a back seat, I can finally focus on finishing the mod.

Also, a map is in the making.. it is nothing crazy, but it will add more regions. We will see how far we get with that, and how it will effect the mod.

Units and unit rosters will eventually be reworked and may include Lanjane's works again.. but it will be different from what you have seen as of late. There are many mods out there that have many units that would fit into this mod.. I just want to finish the actual mod and worry about units later.

Finally, since I will be finishing the mod much more sooner than expected, this will allow me to have time to create separate mod campaigns that will give the game better immersion.

I hope this all has made sense.. I will try and get a pretty finished and stable product out for Christmas. If you have any questions, just ask. Just know that this mod is not dead, and that I am here to stay but I have to operate to my own accord and not rely on others.. because of this, expect a fully polished mod to be released much sooner.

Also, again many thanks to Lanjane, he is a dear friend of mine, and I wish him the best of luck.

~ahowl11

I'm with you ahowl.This mod will get released.

Maybe it's for the better that you get to release the main core of your mod. With something out, maybe it will draw attention. I wish I could help, but I've only gone as far as re-texturing. Nothing special, but it felt really nice to see what you make realized in-game. Even though RTW has great mods that will never be repeated, I like mod ideas like yours as well - keeping it simple, with a "little bit more".

P.S. Easy on the "sooner than expected" treatment. Last time I saw that, it didn't go well :laughter: - Rome 2!!!:dedhrse:

I recently learnt to make beautiful UIs as you can see on RTR Anabasis thread, maybe I can help you with at this point. Actually is easy and fast.

Look at this: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...9#post15704469

=)

Thank you for the offer Solon, but I don’t want to take time away from your mod.

I will make a news and progress thread shortly that way this forum doesn’t appear like it’s dead haha

Sorry to hear about Lanjane having to take a step back from modding (or many steps, as the case may be). I hope all goes well for him in RL. I totally agree with your assessment that it's better for faction rosters to be consistent. Nothing is more immersion-breaking than seeing one faction with uber-detailed units/cards alongside another faction with a very different (or vanilla) style of units/cards. I think your vision for this mod being an enhancement of vanilla -- creating a more dynamic and historical experience, while staying true to the spirit and simplicity of vanilla -- is the right way to go. If players want a total overhaul, there's always RTR, of course, and the other old standbys like Surrectum and EB. All that said, I really hope you find the time to give each faction the care and detail you've managed for the barbarians and nomads. I was really looking forward to playing as Macedonia! All the best, ahowl and team. You have my support, for what it's worth.

Thank you Cyprian, as time goes on the detail and immersion will get richer and deeper, I just have to take it one step at a time :)

I agree with you ahowl11, I think the strength of your mod is an enhanced vanilla experience, which is something valuable that is sacrificed in many of the other big overhaul mods. Focus on it. I am excited to know what you have planned.

have one problem, RTW 1, die step by step, i didn't play RTW 1 since 2 yrs, because high-end pc's have problem with this game, many ppls with same problem so im done with RTW i think better if You continue with mods in total war rome 2, cuz here R 1 TW for 10 ppls to make mods also is lost time, sry i want play on RTW but with 2080 RTX and i5 8600k i have 15-20 fps and super lagg on this game was good times but uvi everything is over here atleast have for mobile ^.-

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Originally Posted by Vilica

have one problem, RTW 1, die step by step, i didn't play RTW 1 since 2 yrs, because high-end pc's have problem with this game, many ppls with same problem so im done with RTW i think better if You continue with mods in total war rome 2, cuz here R 1 TW for 10 ppls to make mods also is lost time, sry i want play on RTW but with 2080 RTX and i5 8600k i have 15-20 fps and super lagg on this game was good times but uvi everything is over here atleast have for mobile ^.-

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Because you don't know how to optimize the game and your pc...Rome 1 uses only 1 core from a processor from what i know.That's why you have low fps.As for Rome 2, this isn't the forum to talk about that game.Do you enjoy Rome 2 ? Good for you.We, on the other hand, enjoy Rome 1 and there are still people playing it, playing with mods and modding it of course.

ok tell me how to run smooth rome 1... ? tell me step by step cuz i wanna play rome 1 too ? ;/

zero answer maybe cant optimize?

There are many tutorials in web.

download file called d3d8.dll. then place it in rtw folder. it helps a lot. just search "rome total war d3d8".