XGM ideas carried across to BI?

[Drakontos]

Hi everyone - I've been playing XGM for about a year now, been a long time lurker on these forums, but never actually input any ideas.

Now, although I appreciate this would probably belong more in the modding forums, I will no doubt make a thread there in due course, but this one is more asking the opinion of XGM players - and DimeBag, if I can borrow a couple of your ideas.

So, my idea is to attempt to carry some of the features from XGM to BI. As I have absolutely no modding experience, I'd like some opinions (from XGM players!) if they think these ideas might work, before I spend hours learning how to make all these changes, only to find out they didn't work as I'd hoped.

Ideas are as follows:

1) Remove Epic Walls, move reinforced walls/large walls to Huge City size.
2) Reduce most city sizes. I'm not really a fan of so many large and huge cities.
3) Cut growth rates, the way XGM has them really works well.
4) Disable boiling oil (perhaps, those hordes really need help in non-autoresolved sieges)

5) (This is where I need ideas - this is the most ambitious) Add in the XGM map. Issues here being troubles with hording and the Sassanids becoming too powerful. I could cut the map down, but to be honest I'm not really a fan of maps such as those in... IB, I think it was. Bigger, but no Arabia/India. The Red sea being connected to an ocean is nice.
So, to deal with this, I could move the Roxolani to above the Sassanids as some form of Steppe Faction to restrict things. Hephthalites (sp?) / Black Huns. I could then replace the Roxalani in the Crimea with the Ostrogoths.
Converting the Berbers into some form of Eastern Kingdoms faction could also work, in India, Arabia and Mauritania. (Do you all think the EK works out nicely in XGM, and would suit a BI mod?)
I could also do something with the Roman Rebel Factions, but frankly I quite like them as is, and I still want that Vanilla BI feel. For this reason I'd like to keep the dates and the Vandal/Hun hordes.
This just leaves the regions themselves, which would causes issues with Romans, and Hordes. One option would be to give barbarian factions very large armies at the start, and 'the civilised' ridiculous corruption. Obviously size of rebel towns is another thing. So, another idea I had was to maintain (more or less) the size of the current cities in BI, and make them something like capital regions, and make the new cities have far more limited growth rates, make them instead villages/towns and effectively capped at Minor City status. The gap between 'capitals' and 'towns' could be lessened in Barbarian areas.

6) I'd also like to integrate the ideas from a fan patch I saw, which fixes issues with Chosen Archers, British Legions, etc.

Further changes can wait. Units, historical accuracy etc... not too important right now. Nor balancing, too much. Obviously I want most factions to stand a fighting chance, and not watch the Sassanids, ERE or WRE steamroll everyone else.

I ask you all because I feel most of these ideas are most relevant to XGM players, especially the attempts to maintain the Vanilla feel. In this case, the basic set up of Vandal and Hunnic hordes hitting barbarian nations and causing chain reactions, which in turn do result in very different maps each game.

Opinions/ideas? Thanks for managing to read all that!

[CaesarVincens]

Welcome, Drakontos.

I too have though of a XGM style BI mod (that is BI in the style of XGM).

Your first 4 points are not very ambitious and could be done fairly easily. The fifth point will take a much larger amount of work primarily because you want to balance a new map.

My suggestion is to begin modding at a small level. Learn how to implement the first four points into vanilla BI, and learn about mod folders. There are quite a lot of resources here at TWC and you will be able to learn basically everything you need to know in the modding forums. After you have gained confidence, you might start to implement map changes and change the factions around some.

I wish you luck in your modding, and if you have questions I will do my best to help you when I can.

[Drakontos]

Cheers. First up, to work out why I can't edit Settlement names in BI... namely, why there is no preferences.txt in the BI preferences folder! Then, onto the next points, then finally, the map...

[Spartan198]

Cheers. First up, to work out why I can't edit Settlement names in BI... namely, why there is no preferences.txt in the BI preferences folder!

It's in the Rome - Total War\BI\preferences folder.

[Drakontos]

Ah, but it isn't!

I'm not sure if that's because I have Gold. I also have Vista, although I did fix the permissions. As soon as this busy week clears up, I'll keep working on it.

[death to the romans]

oh, that would be nice. good luck!!

[Dog Fart]

I think Vista hides the preferences folder. That's how it was in my system anyways. There should be an option in Control pannel that allows you to see all folders.

[Spartan198]

I run Vista AND have RTW Gold and my preferences file is exactly where I said.

[Scutarii]

If you install in program files and have UAC on Vista hides some files, savegames and preferences.txt are among them, AFAIK.

[Spartan198]

If you install in program files and have UAC on Vista hides some files, savegames and preferences.txt are among them, AFAIK.

Not for me. Saved games and preferences are in my BI folder.



Maybe it could be different between versions of Vista?

[Drakontos]

Oh, the folders are there, but they appear empty.

Or did. I managed to fix it, with some trouble. Even now I have to click "compatibility files" every time I wish to view them. Still, now that's done, I'll presumably start on the other stuff within the next week.

[Scutarii]

Not for me. Saved games and preferences are in my BI folder.



Maybe it could be different between versions of Vista?

Got lucky I guess. Pissed me off when I found I had to reinstall if I wanted to edit my preferences file...

[The Hedge Knight]

Why reinstall, can't you just make it read only?

[Spartan198]

---Never mind---

[Drakontos]

Just an update folks. So far I have managed to get both a bugfixer patch (love it) I found and Seleukos' "Revisio Cartae Geographicae v1" (also love it) both working simultaneously on an extra copy of RTW I found I had made some time ago with the intent to install some mod or another. I also fixed the preferences thing.

These two are great. So the current plan is to basically ignore my idea to expand the map for a while, I love Seleukos' map that much. Not to mention that modding that is well beyond my current capabilities.

First on the list is working out to alter this current set up into a modfoldered, well, mod.

Second is to work out why night battles don't work. Characters get the trait, they are enabled in descr_strat, but the option isn't there. Preliminary searching indicates that this is an issue related to Seleukos' RCG mod.

Third is to remove epic walls and to make large walls require a Huge City.

Fourth, to adjust growth rates, although by how much I'm not totally sure. Aiming for XGM rate of growth. Ideas? I'm aware that government buildings up until... level 4 (?) give a farming bonus, but I'm not sure by how much I should reduce all-round growth. Similarly, reduce the size of a number of settlements.

Fifth, maybe, and probably the last thing that happens before my real life is overwhelmed by modding, remove boiling oil.

I've so much enjoyed what I've managed to do so far (even if next to nothing of it is actually my doing) that I have a number of further ideas. Indeed, chances are this is going to have to move to the modding forum. It probably should have anyway. But you, my avid XGM readers, should have an idea of whether or not these ideas manage to maintain the balance of fun/game restrictions/historical accuracy/vanilla feel.
Anyway. I'm planning to make the Goths (Visi and Ostro) Germanic, not nomad. Perhaps give the Visigoths paved roads at huge city level to represent that they were the "wise goths", and to give Ostrogoths, certainly, ports and shipwrights. I was under the impression that they were a seafaring bunch, hanging around on the black sea. Also to give them both a couple of healthcare buildings, just in case they end up in settlements without them.

Another idea which occurred to me, in order to reduce the ridiculous amounts of money one eventually ends up with, was to perhaps put a, say, 1% tax income reduction on all building at Large City level, and 2% at Huge City. Or something similar, which would be explained as public levies for maintenance of buildings.

[CaesarVincens]

Just an update folks. So far I have managed to get both a bugfixer patch (love it) I found and Seleukos' "Revisio Cartae Geographicae v1" (also love it) both working simultaneously on an extra copy of RTW I found I had made some time ago with the intent to install some mod or another. I also fixed the preferences thing.

These two are great. So the current plan is to basically ignore my idea to expand the map for a while, I love Seleukos' map that much. Not to mention that modding that is well beyond my current capabilities.

First on the list is working out to alter this current set up into a modfoldered, well, mod.

Second is to work out why night battles don't work. Characters get the trait, they are enabled in descr_strat, but the option isn't there. Preliminary searching indicates that this is an issue related to Seleukos' RCG mod.

Third is to remove epic walls and to make large walls require a Huge City.

Fourth, to adjust growth rates, although by how much I'm not totally sure. Aiming for XGM rate of growth. Ideas? I'm aware that government buildings up until... level 4 (?) give a farming bonus, but I'm not sure by how much I should reduce all-round growth. Similarly, reduce the size of a number of settlements.

Fifth, maybe, and probably the last thing that happens before my real life is overwhelmed by modding, remove boiling oil.

I've so much enjoyed what I've managed to do so far (even if next to nothing of it is actually my doing) that I have a number of further ideas. Indeed, chances are this is going to have to move to the modding forum. It probably should have anyway. But you, my avid XGM readers, should have an idea of whether or not these ideas manage to maintain the balance of fun/game restrictions/historical accuracy/vanilla feel.
Anyway. I'm planning to make the Goths (Visi and Ostro) Germanic, not nomad. Perhaps give the Visigoths paved roads at huge city level to represent that they were the "wise goths", and to give Ostrogoths, certainly, ports and shipwrights. I was under the impression that they were a seafaring bunch, hanging around on the black sea. Also to give them both a couple of healthcare buildings, just in case they end up in settlements without them.

Another idea which occurred to me, in order to reduce the ridiculous amounts of money one eventually ends up with, was to perhaps put a, say, 1% tax income reduction on all building at Large City level, and 2% at Huge City. Or something similar, which would be explained as public levies for maintenance of buildings.

Excellent, Drakontos.

1) I know there is a thread on how to make a mod-folder in the modding workshop.
2) You could ask in the mod workshop
3) Just look at how XGM does it. In XGM, barbarians can build stone walls only with a large city, so apply that principle to the large walls.
4) Again, you can look at how XGM does it, also, descr_regions contains base farming rates, very important for changing overall growth rates (though that also changes income)
5) One last time, look at what XGM does. Descr_walls I believe.