Special (( WINTER )) Unit and Engine Textures in SS 5.1 ?

[wolfslayer]

I've only tested this in SS5.1 (Kingdoms) so I'll post a few screenies here.

I searched around a bit and haven't seen this mentioned yet.

You can create a winter texture set for any unit or engine that will only load when the environment is winter (snow textures).

You just create a subfolder named "winter" in the unit or engine (ram, tower, catapult, etc.) texture folder and put the winter version in the "winter" subfolder with the exact same name as the normal version.

I made a very hasty version of a catapult and kiev peasant crew to test in custom battle, and take screenshots.

These are both from Swiss Alps, same custom battle, I just swtched one to winter and the other to summer.


Catapults-Winter: First test I made with a normal Venetian crew - A light overspray with some snow on the wheels and packed around the bolts on the tread.



Swiss Alps -Winter: A little snow on boots and simulated leather "gloves"..


Another screen of wheels and boots..



Summer- Swiss Alps: The normal textures load...

This only works for textures, not models. You can also create summer texture subfolders for different regions - still testing..

[Echad]

Damn, man, you're fast... Your work on artillery got some bonuses! Have found how to unPack the animations?

[Ataegina]

so this can be done for each season ?

[Echad]

so this can be done for each season ?

There only 2 in M2TW... Only Summer and Winter... I am left without birthday! =(

[wolfslayer]

just winter and summer, but summer has regional subsets you can create

[Echad]

just winter and summer, but summer has regional subsets you can create

Regional? Wester/Eastert/Southern Europe or Middle-East? Or else?

Check my e-mail...

[wolfslayer]

Regional? Wester/Eastert/Southern Europe or Middle-East? Or else?

Check my e-mail...

That will take some tests in campaign battles; the winter stuff is easy; regional summer is more complicated.

How about some winter wool sweaters and wool knit stockings for Nubian spearmen? Chilly weather, need to be prepared...

[wolfslayer]

Regional? Wester/Eastert/Southern Europe or Middle-East? Or else?

Check my e-mail...

I check your mail..you make a good point, it is probably best to use this for weather effects on siege equipment and such, snow ice, dirt dust..

The winter effect will work on any texture folder..effects and overlay textures, like white marching dust in snow terrain instead of brown, for example..

Reskinning a bunch of unit textures would be too huge an effort; but there is always the option to include a winter texture or alternate with new units.

I'll be testing a regional texture set here shortly in a campaign battle..Eng vs Turk..west of Baghdad;-)

[wolfslayer]

I'll be testing a regional texture set here shortly in a campaign battle..Eng vs Turk..west of Baghdad;-)

Desert mortar and crew: a little bit dirty and dusty, you would be too, pushing that thing through the desert for two years....


It's hard to get the mortar flash in a screenshot...


Okay, no sleeping on the job..

This texture set of an English mortar/siege crew will only load when the battlefield is "middle eastern".

This is achieved by creating a "variations/middle_eastern" subfolder in each folder where the normal texture resides.

You definitely can use "southern_european" textures also, I think there are some faction subfolders that can be created also; looking into that.

[DrunkNIrishMan]

This is brilliant. How did you find this stuff?

[Megalos]

This is very interesting! Some questions, if you'd be kind enough to answer...

So...

you just make a subfolder called winter, and add your textures into that file?
At what level does the folder need to be?
Could you show me one of your file paths, just for clarity?
Is there need for changes to the text, to make this work?


Thanks
Megalos

[wolfslayer]

Sure, but remember the subfolder is always in the folder where the normal texture resides.

For instance the winter catapult:

Stainless_Steel\data\siege_engines\textures\winter\siege_catapult.texture

It must have the same name as the normal texture..

Kiev Rus winter catapult crew:

Stainless_Steel\data\unit_models\_units\ee_peasant_leather\textures\winter\mtw2_ee_peasant_kievan.texture

For middle eastern battlefields: ie., the mortar:

data\siege_engines\textures\variations\middle_eastern\siege_mortar.texture

The bold highlights the normal texture location.
Hope that explains it...

[Megalos]

Thanks WS, that has cleared it up somewhat!

So I need not change any text what-so-ever? It just has to have the same name as the original/normal summer texture, but in a winter subfolder?

[wolfslayer]

Thanks WS, that has cleared it up somewhat!

So I need not change any text what-so-ever? It just has to have the same name as the original/normal summer texture, but in a winter subfolder?

Nope;-) No txt.

It's already built into the file structure of the game, just needs more R & D.

[Chim]

That is a great find there! This could get some variety into the game.

[Echad]

You should PM King Kong about it... He may implement it in 6.0, what I definetely want to see is correct dust (sand for middle eastern, snow for winter, etc.) and siege weapons snowed.

[wolfslayer]

You should PM King Kong about it... He may implement it in 6.0, what I definetely want to see is correct dust (sand for middle eastern, snow for winter, etc.) and siege weapons snowed.

I'm going to work on resolving the texture and particle effects issues, so

any texture designer who want to experiment with this are can try different

regions.

I definitely know these work: winter, middle_eastern, and

southern_european.

I haven't tested nothern_european for summer yet, say for a moorish unit fighting in denmark..

As far as I can tell, the variations all depend on what type battlemap is

loaded, not the location on the campaign strat map where the battle takes

place.

Like I said, I've only tested this is SS5.1 Kingdoms, but it probably works in

all versions of MTW2.

I'll upload a example in this weekend if I have a chance.



Remember if you make middle easterrn version for say,

en_peasant_padded_england.texture, like I did for the mortar crew, it will

load on middle eastern battlefields for all units that use that texture..

[Wolfcp11]

Oh God, my MTW2 folder is already 17gigs

[wolfslayer]

I've discovered alternate textures can be used following the folder structure of

Medieval II Total War\data\blockset\textures\

winter

variations\middle_eastern

variations\south_european