Unique Kings eye-candy mod

[Epistolary Richard]

A French King in his individual heraldry takes the field

Unique Kings eye-candy mod
For Kingdoms Grand Campaign (Medieval 2 Total War Kingdoms with Retrofit mod 1.0)
Download size: approx. 2.5meg

Current status
Version 0.1 available for Download

Installation instructions
The zip file includes a data folder, this folder includes all files with proper folder hierarchies needed to use the Unique Kings mod with Retrofit.

Recommended Installation

Use the JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler, this allows easy installation and uninstallation of the mod. Details are here:
http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showth...84#post1009484

Alternative Installation (file overwrite)

Just drag the included Data folder into your
\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\retrofit\ folder

Note that this will overwrite your existing campaign_script.txt file however I have included the vanilla_campaign_script.txt file in the zip.

To uninstall, delete or rename the \mods\retrofit\data\unit_models folder and replace the campaign_script.txt file with the vanilla_campaign_script.txt file

Thanks go to the artists who provided the graphics used - for credits see readme.


Free use - You may alter and adapt this modification for other public modifications freely subject to the following conditions. It may not be used for any commercial purpose. The creator of the modification and any artists whose work is used must be identified within the credits included in any release.


What the mod does
One of the things that has always bugged me about the TW series is a certain lack of individual character. When I see my king on the battlefield I want to be able to stand out, not just as another general, but as an individual in his own right. This mod is a small step towards that goal.

This mod is designed to add some individuality to each faction's leaders on the battlemap, so that not only will you be able to tell your king apart from his generals, you will be able to tell each one of your kings from the other.

Unique Kings, something of a misnomer as their not entirely unique and it doesn't just apply to kings, assigns a specific battle model to each faction's leaders and heirs which they keep for the rest of their lives. When a faction leader dies and a new heir is chosen, the heir gets a different battle model from the standard faction general.

Here's the mod in action in a new Sicilian campaign:

1082: King Roger of Sicily leading the attack on Durazzo



1084: Prince Simon takes the settlement of Cagliani



1094: King Roger at the siege of Tunis



1116: Prince Simon orders the charge in the streets of Florence



1130: King Roger the Crusader captures the target: Cairo!



1142: After the death of King Roger, King Simon and the new heir Prince Gano at the relief of Florence



1150: New King Paolo and his heir Prince Azzerello on Corsica - in this instance the game has randomly assigned both characters the same heraldry



As you can see, Roger & Simon have been instantly identifiable on the battlefield throughout!


Also, here's an example of a Middle Eastern leader and heir



Here are some more examples:


These screenshots show the faction leader and heir in their heraldry with a standard Sicilian general for contrast.

First release
The first release has 19 variants (14 european, 5 middle eastern) to form a pool from which each heir's model is randomly assigned. Ideally, we would have a dozen variants specific for each faction but creating 200 new textures would take a while!


Subsequent releases
If there's interest, there's nothing to prevent more models & textures being added, general or faction-specific, aside from the getting the models & textures themselves. If anyone is interested in creating or donating either just drop me a line.

[Turkeys!]

Nice , Cant wait to play it

[randir14]

That's a pretty cool idea. Kingdoms added a bunch of new leader/general/captain models, maybe you can mix and match them. For example maybe use the Teutonic captain or general model for the Crusades leader/general models and change the textures.

[Epistolary Richard]

Version 0.1 is now available for download. Top post updated with information.

Remember, if anyone wants to donate or make some more textures or general models for another batch then just get in touch.

[Burns]

Looks very cool. I'm wondering, would you be able to perhaps change the Eastern European (Poland, Russia, Hungary, Byzantium) general models? Frankly, the ones in the game just don't fit these factions too well.

[Epistolary Richard]

It's straightforward to code, just need a model and a few textures for it. Any suggestions?

[Burns]

It's straightforward to code, just need a model and a few textures for it. Any suggestions?

Statues might be a good place to look for inspiration. I'm not sure (but maybe possibly) some stock models from M2/Kingdoms might do.

http://www.andrewcusack.com/cpkjag3.jpg
A statue of King Jagiello of Poland.

[randir14]

The Saladin and muslim general models from the Crusade campaign might fit if you gave them lighter skin

[TanOrpheus]

Does this only work with Retrofit, or it will run on original kingdoms ?

[Epistolary Richard]

Does this only work with Retrofit, or it will run on original kingdoms ?

Only Retrofit. The relevant script command doesn't exist in basic M2TW.

Statues might be a good place to look for inspiration. I'm not sure (but maybe possibly) some stock models from M2/Kingdoms might do.

I shall have to look around for a good model.

[Asean]

can you give the king's model a crown like the model in m2tw?

[Omnipotent-Q]

Nice! The whole cloned generals thing has always irked me to no end. I'll have to give this whirl.

[edders]

Brilliant! I was concerned that you could only have unique models for faction leaders/heirs either on the strat map or by setting certain characters in descr_strat to use them until they died. Great work, I'd love to see some of the other skinners/modellers making unique models for every faction leader!