Battlefield Smoke Mod for Napoleon:TW Update: 26.06.10 Update 1.1

[Mech_Donald]

Battlefield Smoke Mod for Napoleon: Total War
for patch version 4!

Update 1.1

Video:
The Last Battle - A Battlefield Smoke Modification

Hi!

ChandlerL has donated a boxed copy of N:TW for me. I am still speechless about this gift. All my future work on N:TW wouldn't be possible without his donation!!! So i feel obligated to work on a new Battlefield Smoke Mod for N:TW! Thank you very much, ChandlerL!


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Update 1.1 (26.06.10)

• changed color of cannonsmoke to more white
• musket smoke more dense
• fixed air explosion animation
• added smoke to groundhits

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Important!!!

The mod won't work correctly, if you have other mods installed, wich modifies one of the following files:

landbattle.xml
projectile_tables
particle_effects_tables
projectile_impacts_tables
projectiles_explosions_tables
Textures in the Effects\Textures folder.


If you want to use my mod as part of your mods, please ask for permission, thanks!

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Installation.


There are modifications in the user_script.txt file necessary. You can find this file in: Root\User \USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Napoleon\scripts\.
Edit this file like this:

Please add the lines for each mod file you want to use. If no user_scrip.txt exists, just create one.


Example:

mod "mod_BSM_Napoleon.pack";
mod "mod_No_Trails.pack";
etc...


The 7zip-archive contains all effect-modifications i made, for an individual summary of your choice. In addition, i made an All in One package containing all effect-mods. So if you want to use all of my mods at the same time, it is not necessary to add all seperate mod files. Just put the mod_BSM_Napoleon_All_in_One package
in your data folder, add the line to your user_script,txt and you're good to go.

Content:

mod_BSM_Napoleon................................the main Battlefield Smoke Mod file
mod_camera_shake_reduced..................alters the camera shaking parameters and reduces the effect to a tolerable level
mod_fx_parameters.................................disables lens-flare effects. BSM possibly causes much too bright lens-flares.
mod_No_Trails.........................................removes the vanilla tracer effects. BSM adds new, "more realistic" smoke tracers to cannonballs
mod_more_dust.......................................adds more dust to units

mod_BSM_Napoleon_All_in_One...................contains all mod packages described above.



All your desired mod files must be extracted in your Steam\SteamApps\common\napoleon total war\data folder.




Important!

If the All in One package is installed, no other part of BSM should be in your data folder!


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Suggestions about realism are always welcome!

Here are some videos showing the enhancements. Enjoy!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

cannonfire smoke effects


rocket and musket smoke effects


rocket explosions final


Howitzer shell explosion test video #2


different howitzer shell explosions


Ship explosion effects


Smoke and lightning effects for naval battles


Mortar smoke effects


Carcass fire effects


Handgrenade smoke effects

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Thanks goes also to Erasmus777, HusserlTW and the Vicar for the excellent PFM editor and GODzilla, Peacekeep3r and Joss for the very importend beta testing! I also thank ToonTotalWar for the tip: saving textures save!

Have fun!

Mech_Donald

[Chevalier IX]

Excellent news sir!!!haha I was just going to post in the wips questioning if this was going to happen or not,for the cannon effects are really lackluster in vanillaIt is a proud day for the community to hear that you will be working on thisand a huge thanks to ChandlerL for his amazing contribution!!Your work in progress looks amazing!!!

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

well, I loved the ETW stuff you did Mech, and I will definitely be using anything you produce. I love that smoke out the cannon in the vid...can't wait!

[Cartras]

Oh YES!

I have been missing the BSM from NTW. It is way too clean of a battlefield without it.

[MorganH.]

You just had to eh ? A big Thank you in advance Sir !+rep
For ChandlerL as well

[PubliusKhannus]

excellent news, best of luck on the project

[Mech_Donald]

Hi and thank you for all the praise!

The engine of Napoleon: Total War is much more performant than Empire: Total War. So with all the smoke i added, i have only a loss of approx. 3-4 fps!!! But all the partikel effects are soft blurred. Therefore all the smoke will be not as sharp than in empire. I think, this is called soft particles, but i don't know.

I continued my my work on adapting BSM for NTW. This time i show you the reworked versions of congreve rocket smoke effects and the musket smoke. I personally do not like the vanilla musket smoke in N:TW. The color is much too brown and the lingering smoke is too high above the ground. I think, my version looks a little more realistic. The performance is almost as good as in vanilla (For me, on my configuration, the same as in vanilla - measured with fraps). Enjoy!



I'll keep the start post up to date, so you can see all the new improvements also there.

One question: What do you think about the NTW Vanilla explosion effects? I find it much too big and comic-like and so i want to enhance it to be more realistic.

kind regards Mech_Donald

[Pdguru]

Hi and thank you for all the praise!

The engine of Napoleon: Total War is much more performant than Empire: Total War. So with all the smoke i added, i have only a loss of approx. 3-4 fps!!! But all the partikel effects are soft blurred. Therefore all the smoke will be not as sharp than in empire. I think, this is called soft particles, but i don't know.

I continued my my work on adapting BSM for NTW. This time i show you the reworked versions of congreve rocket smoke effects and the musket smoke. I personally do not like the vanilla musket smoke in N:TW. The color is much too brown and the lingering smoke is too high above the ground. I think, my version looks a little more realistic. The performance is almost as good as in vanilla (For me, on my configuration, the same as in vanilla - measured with fraps). Enjoy!



I'll keep the start post up to date, so you can see all the new improvements also there.

One question: What do you think about the NTW Vanilla explosion effects? I find it much too big and comic-like and so i want to enhance it to be more realistic.

kind regards Mech_Donald

Excellent news! Regarding explosions, I absolutely agree the NTW ones are a tad over the top (but I like the ground impact scars). If you can tome them down I think that would be great. When can we expect a beta to test old chap?

[Mech_Donald]

The scars are very great! An improvement Empire really needs, too. Due the lack of time, i cannot say when i can release it. There is much work to do on adapting and reworking. I don't want to play napoleon with vanilla effects. The explosions are much too annoying to me, so i hope i can release my mod as soon as possible. *want to play napoleon*

[PubliusKhannus]

The new smoke effects are looking snappy sir, Kutgw

[MorganH.]

The scars are very great! An improvement Empire really needs, too. Due the lack of time, i cannot say when i can release it. There is much work to do on adapting and reworking. I don't want to play napoleon with vanilla effects. The explosions are much too annoying to me, so i hope i can release my mod as soon as possible. *want to play napoleon*

edit: a test video for rocket explosions. Not so exagerated as vanilla. What do you think?

The explosions are much better this way;nomore spiderweb trails !!
Good work !

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

drooooooooooooooooooooooool!

[Cartras]

I like the new rocket explosion effects. I will admit to a small ping of joy everytime a ship blows up in vanilla though. Very tasty explosion.

[Mech_Donald]

I like the new rocket explosion effects. I will admit to a small ping of joy everytime a ship blows up in vanilla though. Very tasty explosion.

The explosions are much better this way;nomore spiderweb trails !!
Good work !

Agreed. These spiderweb trails are still there, but reworked and more realistic. Just have a look on the new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USMacQIxhBg
You can recognize them better in HD (720p).

regards

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

Those trails look great Mech! +rep

Are you planning on tweaking the howitzer explosions?

cheers!

[Mech_Donald]

Yes of course. Do you have any suggestions? And thank you for the +rep!!!

[Nanny de Bodemloze]

Yes of course. Do you have any suggestions? And thank you for the +rep!!!

I find the howitzer explosions a little over the top. The initial explosion looks ok enough, but the streaks of fire raining down look cheesy...a little too much like the carcass shots in ETW. My personal preference would be less raining fire, more shrapnel bits. But others may have better ideas, or you may already have something better in mind.

[MorganH.]

Agreed. These spiderweb trails are still there, but reworked and more realistic. Just have a look on the new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USMacQIxhBg
You can recognize them better in HD (720p).

regards

Vids looking Great to me,alltho like The Nanny said,less trails and more shrapnel bits would be awesome!
have some +rep for your WIP
Regards

[BrodY]

Holy bajeeesus! Gimmegimme! GJ, sir!

[Gezoes]

A smoke mod, yeah! Keep up the good work sir, looks wonderful