New RTW & BI player needs advice

[Kyros]

OK, I am new to to the TW series. I just purchased both RTW & the expansion pack BI. I have searched for mods for RTW prior to buying RTW and I was going to download the "Total Realism" mod and a few skins & units for RTW but I want to play BI as well. What mods are compatable for both RTW & BI (in other words, what mods can be used when both are installed)? I wanted to download new skins, units, ect as well if possible.

My goal is to create the best possible gaming experience which includes all levels of realism. I would sacrafice game speed for realism so if there is a mod that is compatable for both RTW & the expansion BI, I want it.

Any advice is very much appreciated and I am sure the vets here get asked this question a lot. I did search the forum to see if this paticular question was asked but I failed to turn up any results pertaining to my certain question (mods that are compatable for both RTW & BI).

Thank guys.

[therussian]

Welcome to TWC and TW in general!

To answer your question, there aren't any "major" mods for BI out at the moment, but there are a few mini mods. My personal favorite for BI is Atilla Reloaded's mod.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=113
This one you put in the Rome Total War/data/bi section of the Activision folder.

Thene there is this one, Lusted's Terrae Expudnaagagaga mod for RTW (1.5)
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=114

This one goes in the Rome Total War/data section. These are the two mods I use. The skins are awesome (epecially Lusted's) because he uses skins from a lot of the skinners here at TWC.

Enjoy!

[Sétanta]

like he said no major BI mods yet
many many many mods for RTW (SPQR is my personal favorite)

but i am 99.9% sure that major mods aren't cross compatible because the data folder is different and many features aren't shared.

[Kyros]

like he said no major BI mods yet
many many many mods for RTW (SPQR is my personal favorite)

but i am 99.9% sure that major mods aren't cross compatible because the data folder is different and many features aren't shared.

SPQR, now this mod is all about skins and maps, right? I am reading more and more about mods as we write this.

Also, is there an advantage to playing just RTW with the great mods instead of playing with BI? Or is BI a "must have" at this point as I have read that it does address certain issues/problems.

[therussian]

SPQR, now this mod is all about skins and maps, right? I am reading more and more about mods as we write this.

Also, is there an advantage to playing just RTW with the great mods instead of playing with BI? Or is BI a "must have" at this point as I have read that it does address certain issues/problems.

Well, BI does add a lot of features, such as hordes, religion, loyalty, plus the fact that you play in a different time period, but the 1.5 patch fixes all of the bugs and such that resulted from 1.3 and subsequently 1.2

The bad thing is that not many of the major mods have switched to 1.5, so and even if they did, you would still be able to play them with BI.

Oh, and SPQR is an awesome mod. But don't plan on getting it if you have a low end computer (like me). It uses huge unit sizes and that can cause major lag if you're not able to handle it on your computer

[Kyros]

Thanks for replying!

OK, by the looks of it these are skin mods, correct?

I had read the RTR was a great mod for realism but the more I am reading it appears to be just for RTW.

Thanks again. :original:

[Sétanta]

yeah RTR is currently only for RTW
and i am not sure if they plan on moving up to BI or not

and Lusteds and Attilla Reloaded mods aren't just skin mods (mostly though). they have features too
welcome by the way


and many mods for RTW are great but BI is great too.
i play SPQR for RTW and BI at the same time.

good fun

[Kyros]

Ahh, so you can actually install mods for RTW and play it even though you have BI installed. Because they use different data folders - I understand now.

So I could actually play RTW with RTR installed and then play BI with BI mods installed. So in the menu, does it show BI as a different game? I have not yet installed BI because I was concerned about compatability but I understand now.

[therussian]

like he said no major BI mods yet
many many many mods for RTW (SPQR is my personal favorite)

but i am 99.9% sure that major mods aren't cross compatible because the data folder is different and many features aren't shared.

Nah, because see, the mods don't modify both games (RTW and BI). They modify only one. So you could have a mod that modifies BI only, and a mod that modifies RTW only

Europa Barborum for RTW, and......Chivalry Total War for BI for example. I see no problem, because each has it's own data folder

@Kyros: Yes, they are mainly skin mods, but they do change many aspects of the game (maybe not as radically as RTR or EB), but they still change many things. And yes, RTR is only for RTW (unfortunately). Though I'm not sure if it's not for 1.5.........if it is, you could play it if you do what I stated above

[therussian]

Well, technically no. You can only play the mods for RTW if they are compatible with 1.5 (which most aren't, including RTR)

On the desktop, you have two different icons. One for RTW, and the otherfor BI. You will need the RTW disc to play RTW, and the BI disc to play BI.

They are technically 2 totally different games, not like and expansion pack of the other. I like this, becuase it increases the customization that one can do mod wise (like I did with Atilla's and Lusted's mods)

[Kyros]

Another question;

what are the differences between RTR and SPQR? And are there any other smaller (mini) unit skin mods that I should use if I install RTR or SPQR or does these two mods have everything one needs? (Assuming you use one mod over the other).

[therussian]

RTR is based more historical accuracy (hence Rome Total REALISM). SPQR is mainly based on gameplay more than anything else.

As for the mini mods, there are tons of them. They are floating all around the RTR forums. Wait a second and I'll give you the link

[Kyros]

Great Thanks.

Is SPQR compatable with patch 1.5?

[therussian]

http://forums.rometotalrealism.org/i...p?showforum=93

I'm not sure. lt (the modder) is coming out with 6.0 soon, but I'm not sure if it's for 1.5

Well, the one that's out right now (5.0) is for 1.2.

[Kyros]

It sounds like when playing RTR patch 1.5 isn't really needed because the modder took care of a lot of the fixes.

[therussian]

Oh no. Don't get that into your head comrade. While mods make RTW very fun and appeasing, only the developers (Creative Assembly) can fix the bugs in the game. And trust me, there is a lot of them. The main thing was how stupid the AI was. 1.5 fixed that.

[Kyros]

Oh no. Don't get that into your head comrade. While mods make RTW very fun and appeasing, only the developers (Creative Assembly) can fix the bugs in the game. And trust me, there is a lot of them. The main thing was how stupid the AI was. 1.5 fixed that.

lol OK. I understand.

Hmm, well I don't want to keep you all day so I will do some more reading and looking. One last question, when on RTR foumrs (the one that you linked) there are some abbrev names on there such as TFT anjd FRRE. What do these stand for?

Again, thanks again for your time and help. It is very appreciated.

[therussian]

No problem. No problem at all. We were all like you once in our lives (no offense intended, I hope you understand)

Oh, and TFT is The First Triumvirate, FRRE.............no idea. You might want to read the mod descriptions. Have fun!

[Kyros]

OK, thanks again. Take care.

[John I Tzimisces]

I must caution you: SPQR is taxing on your computer system. The models the Romans use are VERY high in polygon count and thus can cause tremendous slowdown. I have an AMD 64 3500+ with a ATi x800 XL card, and it lagged BAD for me.