Candelarius' Tweaks - Mini-Mod for RTRPE

[Candelarius]

Candelarius' Tweaks
for Rome Total Realism 1.9
Personal Fixes and Changes
Version 1.1

This mini-mod for RTRPE is a simple collection of bug fixes and tweaks that I use when I play RTRPE. I thought that some new people may find this useful since it has all the available hotfixes in one simple zip file.

DOWNLOAD LINK

Installation:
Extract into main Rome Total War folder (contains the .exe file). Over-write existing files.

Change Log:

• Vanilla grass setting - I find this dramatically improves my frame-rate, and, to be honest, I think it looks better.
• Removes "prefers naval invasions setting" - This is especially important for those, like me, that play with the BI.exe. This stops the spamming of naval landings by Illyria and Carthage against the Italian coast...sure it's nice to see naval invasions, but the fact they spam one or two unit armies over and over is rediculous.
• End Turn Revolt fix - This is a must-have hotfix for the annoying revolt CTD, and also makes it so that the "fixer unit" is invisible to the human player.
• 66 BC fix - This adds the "AUC" time/date system as opposed to the AD/BC system, to stop the infamous CTD at 66 BC the Roman player experiences.
• Vanilla strat map ground settings - This is a must have hotfix, as I find the post-RTR Gold strategy map texture is just ungodly ugly. This restores the much better looking vanilla grand map textures for the strategy map.
• Greek Hoplite Militia missing texture fix
• Enabled all units in custom battles
• Added Sinuhet's AI formations
• Added Marcus' Player formations
• Removes shield wall formation - It's unrealistic and silly looking, so I removed it completely from the game.
• Translated proto-Germanic unit names into English for clarification purposes. The proto-Germanic name is still in the unit description. - I find this to be essential for those that do not speak or read proto-Germanic!

Please download THIS FILE if you use the Roman Cognomen Mod, or your game will crash. Place the file in your C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign folder, and over-write the existing file.

Please run the campaign_map_reset.bat file located in your RTR main directory in order for the campaign map textures to become enabled.

Cheers,
Candelarius, aka Yakaspat

[Black Francis]

Marvellous stuff Sir!

Vanilla strat map textures and the AUC fix are a must!

One other thing:

There is something not quite right about the back of the Hastati in RTRPE. They seem to be missing some straps or an armour plate on their backs and it really bothers me, plus I have become bored of the old Roman skins.

Unless I am mistaken, you used the "Promethean Legionaries" skin pack for EXRM once upon a time. I have found an active download link to the pack (originally for RTRPE 1.7 http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=55919). Will they be OK to install over RTRPE 1.9?

Thank you again,

BF.

[Candelarius]

@BF

No, that link goes to the Promethean Mod Addon for my old Extended Realism Mod, it was made specifically for that mod, and thus the descr_model_battle, export_descr_unit, and export_descr_buildings files contain many, many changes that would not be compatible with vanilla RTRPE. You can download it and use the non-text file assets, but you'll need to manually adapt the models and textures to RTRPE for it to work. I'd do it for you, but, I really don't have the time. Honestly, though, the vanilla RTR units are pretty damn good, I don't think they are really missing anything.

[Black Francis]

Thanks Candelarius.

I had a look inside the skin pack and realised that it was probably beyond my modding skills to get them in. I am sure I can live without them. I just need to get the Marian reforms...

All the best.

[Quinn Inuit]

That looks like a good set of fixes, several of which I recognize from your original ExRM. Question: why don't you like shield wall, and does removing it nerf hoplites too much?

[Candelarius]

No, removing them doesn't nerf hoplites at all. The shield wall wasn't in RTR Gold, afterall. I don't like the shield wall because it looks silly, it packs the units into an impossible dense formation, they "shuffle" around continuosly in the formation like they have ants in their pants, and it is not needed....hoplites are already in a dense formation that looks right and works fine without the BI shield wall. Most RTW mods also do not have the shield wall feature enabled.

[florin80]

Congratulations! And it`s splendid to have you back and contributing to RTRPE again! I might have another little thing to give you to add, but it depends on the person who makes it.
How about the roman factions? Do you plan to include them if Salvor finds snake`s mod? In vanilla RTRPE the brutii and scipii are not used for anything. The only problem is that in the last version the roman factions(except the julii) have been completely removed from the text files(no actual effect to the 66 BC CTD).

[beatoangelico]

No, removing them doesn't nerf hoplites at all. The shield wall wasn't in RTR Gold, afterall. I don't like the shield wall because it looks silly, it packs the units into an impossible dense formation, they "shuffle" around continuosly in the formation like they have ants in their pants, and it is not needed....hoplites are already in a dense formation that looks right and works fine without the BI shield wall. Most RTW mods also do not have the shield wall feature enabled.

it's true that hoplites could be balanced without shield wall, and the animations sometimes look silly, but the formation is realistic, not "impossibile dense"

[Candelarius]

No, I decided to skip the Roman factions idea.

[florin80]

No, I decided to skip the Roman factions idea.

Hopefully not my fault...

[Candelarius]

it's true that hoplites could be balanced without shield wall, and the animations sometimes look silly, but the formation is realistic, not "impossibile dense"

You're welcome to your own opinion.

The shield wall formation though was a "recent" addition to RTR, the hoplites were fine without it for several years. Indeed, the way the hoplites are balanced in RTR was done without the shield wall formation. I was actively involved with RTRPE at the time the BI formation settings were being added, don't forget.

Hopefully not my fault...

You are partly to blame.

That, and I messed around with it last night for a couple hours and couldn't get it to work, and decided the frustration wasn't worth the pay-off, as I would probably end up going back to "vanilla" RTRPE anyway. So, I re-installed RTRPE (again), losing my Pontic save-game in the process (!).

[Salvor Hardin]

Excellent initiative, Candel!

Just in case that you want to re-consider the three factions idea, I have placed a link to Snake's great mod here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=164587

[Candelarius]

Thanks Salvor, I personally decided to not make a new mod based on this concept (blame Florin!), but, I'm sure others may be interested. It looks like a good mod. I downloaded it and took a peek at the files, but, there are A LOT of changes, and I don't feel like putting any effort into such an iffy-mod. Thanks again, though, I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

[Romeu]

Salvor, please you can upload this file in rapidshare, File front is the hard for dowload.

[Candelarius]

My Last Mod....

This will be my last Rome Total War based mod. I've been involved in the RTW Modding Community since 2004, when RTW was first released. My first mod was Yakaspat's Vanilla Unified Rome Mod, next came my involvement with RTR, then The First Triumvirate, then Goth's Mod, then FRRE. I made the Extended Realism Mod for RTR, the Candelarius Addon Mod for Terrae Expugnandae, and various other mini-mods and texture packs, like the Ferres Legions Addon for TE.

But, all good things must come to an end. I am moving on to Medieval II Total War now, and will be focusing my energy on supporting my current M2TW mod, the Grand Unit Addon Mod, for the forseable future, and possible starting work on a few other M2TW based projects of my own, possible a Viking Invasion or Renaissance Mod, although I can't decide (and there are already several good ones in development).

The reason for this is that I am honestly bored with the Roman timeframe. I recently tried to revive my interest (after reading an excellent book, Roman and Her Enemies) in the period, but I'm now hopelessly addicted to the medieval era. I have no interest in the Napoleonic era, either, so it's with Medieval 2 I will focus on till the next swords-and-armor-type Total War game is announced.

With this said, I will continue to support my Ferres Legions Addon Mod for TE Gold, which is currently awaiting the TE Gold release. But once I release that, I'll be done with RTW for good (until Rome 2, of course!). Some of my mods will continue to be available, as I will leave them up on my hosting spaces, but, for the most part, I will no longer be directly supporting them, as, to save hard-drive space and to make room for other interests (noteable M2TW, I only have an 80 gig disk drive), I'll be removing RTW from my PC for the first time in nearly four years...

An End To An Era. Probably nobody even cares, but, I thought I owed this sign-off to my fellow Rome fans.

Cheers, seeya in the Medieval 2 forums!
-Candelarius aka Yakaspat

[florin80]

Which one of the two has the honor to be the last last mod by you?
Anyway, good job on making this. It`s a very usefull pack for the rtrpe vanilla players since it adds in the same installer a number of fixes that have been previously floating around.

[Candelarius]

Which one of the two has the honor to be the last last mod by you?

Both, I made them at the same time.

Anyway, good job on making this. It`s a very usefull pack for the rtrpe vanilla players since it adds in the same installer a number of fixes that have been previously floating around.

That was the idea...

Seeya 'round,
Candel'

[MasterOfThessus]

One of the greatest modders for RTW!

Now, you will be whoring around in here, won't you?

[Lucius_Sulla73]

Candelarius,

I'll be grabbing ExRM 3.3 for RTR-PE 1.9 soon. Will this mini mod work with it and is there a specific install order?

[florin80]

No, it won`t work with it. They both modify the same files afaik so you might get conflicts.