Faerûn[Forgotten Realms]TW - v0.2 released, check the first post

[Gigantus]

I was a bit puzzled when looking at the CFG file: no 'file_first' line and still it worked. And initially I forgot to copy the campreview content into the mod
Before starting the mod I moved all TXT files from the sound folder to the data folder where they belong and deleted the IDX\DAT files that remained - no sund issue for me.
Just got a bit bugged by the multitude of 'sell items' messages I got swamped with when selecting a single character- no clue what I was going to sell and what effect it would have - that needs some more work\details.

Map looks good, may I recommend my settlement symbol tutorial for some enhancement?

I'll have a look at the script at a later stage.

[Vladyvid]

I was a bit puzzled when looking at the CFG file: no 'file_first' line and still it worked. And initially I forgot to copy the campreview content into the mod
Before starting the mod I moved all TXT files from the sound folder to the data folder where they belong and deleted the IDX\DAT files that remained - no sund issue for me.
Just got a bit bugged by the multitude of 'sell items' messages I got swamped with when selecting a single character- no clue what I was going to sell and what effect it would have - that needs some more work\details.

Map looks good, may I recommend my settlement symbol tutorial for some enhancement?

I'll have a look at the script at a later stage.

Thanks a lot of taking a look Gigantus! Also cheers for that enhancement tutorial, looks good. For a long time now i havent been really working on the campaign but focusing on producing units. Now that we have 10 playable rosters, and 8 more rosters ready for coding, i will finally focus my attention of reworking the campaign. I want to start with the bare map, then keep adding more feature and testing each time. Maybe some of those complicated features that are not very well executed like you mentioned the market feature can be confusing.

So that would be my main issue to make a stable campaign, then adding units and buildings files, and then more features if everything works well.

[Vladyvid]

I've looked at some of the threads in the Developer's forum, and I've posted there as well - I'm really interested in Shadowar and the Elves of Cormynthyr. The Elves in particular are gorgeous I think.

Yes they are both great and very different rosters, and very unique aswell. I like them a lot myself too, great examples of Assurbanippals craft.

Assurbannipal seems to have already coded his stuff into his version of the mod.

I dont think thats the case exactly, i explained in the dev forums, but Assurbanippal can explain himself im sure.

So it would be easier to code them into the release if I had his version I think - then it's a faster matter of copying entries, while otherwise I will need to create the entries. Both will work but it would be faster if I had his files.

Yes i know the process, ive done that for Calimshan and Unther units; Assurbanippal would send me models and textures, and i coded them to be playable, then Titus would go and adjust the stats according to his system. You know how to do both what i and Titus did in that process. I mean i can still do my part like before and send you the coded units for stats adjustment, if you only want to focus on that part.

The whole process involves:
-renaming the units models and textures to proper designation (they usually have temporary names)
-add entries to BMDB
-add entries to EU
-add entries to EDU

optional:
-add entries to EDB

Then i would make unit cards, but if you want to skip any part of the process like BMDB, then i would complete those entries.

[Mr_Nygren]

Yes they are both great and very different rosters, and very unique aswell. I like them a lot myself too, great examples of Assurbanippals craft.


I dont think thats the case exactly, i explained in the dev forums, but Assurbanippal can explain himself im sure.


Yes i know the process, ive done that for Calimshan and Unther units; Assurbanippal would send me models and textures, and i coded them to be playable, then Titus would go and adjust the stats according to his system. You know how to do both what i and Titus did in that process. I mean i can still do my part like before and send you the coded units for stats adjustment, if you only want to focus on that part.

The whole process involves:
-renaming the units models and textures to proper designation (they usually have temporary names)
-add entries to BMDB
-add entries to EU
-add entries to EDU

optional:
-add entries to EDB

Then i would make unit cards, but if you want to skip any part of the process like BMDB, then i would complete those entries.

To be honest I suck at doing stats. I much rather do the coding and leave the stats to you or Titus .

[Vladyvid]

Sure, that will work!

[Arclath]

Does the mod work with the Definitive Edition? I followed the installation steps, but nothing happens when I click the Faerun.bat file.

[Mr_Nygren]

Does the mod work with the Definitive Edition? I followed the installation steps, but nothing happens when I click the Faerun.bat file.

It does. But as with all mods using Steam you can't ever start it with the .bat-file. You'd need to install it like you do when using Steam - which is an entirely different process.

[Gigantus]

It does. But as with all mods using Steam you can't ever start it with the .bat-file. You'd need to install it like you do when using Steam - which is an entirely different process.

Here is the golden bullet to run mods under Steam. Apply once, run all mod's with their original bat file\desktop shortcut, more details here.

[Warcrafthero]

Congratualations for the release!

I like every part of the mod so far: the map, the units, the interface; in my opinion the mod has a great potential, well done The sounds, the voices and the music work for me, they are the vanilla ones

To Arclath: I also have the Definitive Edition (Steam), in order to run the mod you have to do this:

Open the Faerun.bat file with a text editor such as notepad; in place of kingdoms.exe, write medieval2.exe so your bat file code should look like this:

cd ..\..
medieval2.exe @mods\FaerunV01\Faerun.cfg

[Razor]

Hey there, I thought I'd chime in here and give my honest opinion on it. I must stress that I don't know anything about the word and lore in which the mod takes place. I only know about games such as Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights but hardly ever played them, so... (I've seen some of it when at my friend's house after class at the time which is a long long time ago, in a galaxy far way )

First off: the campaign map looks pretty damn amazing. The only issue I have with it are some of the terrain textures which don't blend in that well with others making it look a bit patchy, but other than that it looks very good, feels very much alive and populated and looks very interesting.

As for the units, I have very mixed feeling about them. Now I do have to confess that my standards are pretty high. In short: I don't really like them except for the ones that are medieval in appearance and the ones that have metallic armour. There's a faction that looks like they've come straight from Homer's Trojan Wars. Although I think they look alright on their own, it's just weird to see this style next to medieval-styled units of other factions. Again, I don't know if it's all down to lore (perhaps someone could enlighten me on this).

As for the units that I do like (the medieval metallic ones), I'd revisit the metallic look of textures. Now if there's something that's hard to pull off in M2TW it's metallic textures, because you'd have to weigh in sunlight and gloss while not making the texture look too bland (I've been there myself and I'm struggling with it as well. I'm still not always happy with the result that I get on my own units). As of now I'd say that the metal looks too smooth and too dark on the all-metallic units. I feel that the metal needs more texture/noise of its own. I do like the little details on the armour like the leather straps and knobs and the overall design.
Also some units just look funny. They have weird faces and weird-looking eyes.

I did get constant pop-ups of the game asking me to sell all items of a character (with a caution notification that I must do this and that, otherwise it would all be broken for the whole campaign). I thought it was a bit annoying and I'm not sure what the idea behind it is. Personally I'd stay far away from scripts that break easily. Anyway, I think that this part of the game also isn't quite done yet?

Anyway, I think your units are alright for what they are right now. I'm sure there are other things that have a much higher priority such as making the campaign playable and bugfree. Again, I thought I'd weigh in here and give you my thoughts on it. It's looking pretty interesting, so I'm interested in seeing where this is going.

Cheers!

[Mr_Nygren]

I've downloaded the entire rosters of the Thay, Rashemen and the Shadovar - all three of these faction rosters are impressive! I've started to implement Thay two days ago and I just thought I'd share some pictures here. The Thayan faction has a huge roster so it will take some time to implement. Some of their unist are weird as well - riding Griffons, Centaurs with bows, Unicorns, Giants and Goblins etc.

I've implemented five units as of yet - with one unit upgrade counting as a sixth entry.

[Vladyvid]

Hey there, I thought I'd chime in here and give my honest opinion on it. I must stress that I don't know anything about the word and lore in which the mod takes place. I only know about games such as Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights but hardly ever played them, so... (I've seen some of it when at my friend's house after class at the time which is a long long time ago, in a galaxy far way )

First off: the campaign map looks pretty damn amazing. The only issue I have with it are some of the terrain textures which don't blend in that well with others making it look a bit patchy, but other than that it looks very good, feels very much alive and populated and looks very interesting.

As for the units, I have very mixed feeling about them. Now I do have to confess that my standards are pretty high. In short: I don't really like them except for the ones that are medieval in appearance and the ones that have metallic armour. There's a faction that looks like they've come straight from Homer's Trojan Wars. Although I think they look alright on their own, it's just weird to see this style next to medieval-styled units of other factions. Again, I don't know if it's all down to lore (perhaps someone could enlighten me on this).

As for the units that I do like (the medieval metallic ones), I'd revisit the metallic look of textures. Now if there's something that's hard to pull off in M2TW it's metallic textures, because you'd have to weigh in sunlight and gloss while not making the texture look too bland (I've been there myself and I'm struggling with it as well. I'm still not always happy with the result that I get on my own units). As of now I'd say that the metal looks too smooth and too dark on the all-metallic units. I feel that the metal needs more texture/noise of its own. I do like the little details on the armour like the leather straps and knobs and the overall design.
Also some units just look funny. They have weird faces and weird-looking eyes.

I did get constant pop-ups of the game asking me to sell all items of a character (with a caution notification that I must do this and that, otherwise it would all be broken for the whole campaign). I thought it was a bit annoying and I'm not sure what the idea behind it is. Personally I'd stay far away from scripts that break easily. Anyway, I think that this part of the game also isn't quite done yet?

Anyway, I think your units are alright for what they are right now. I'm sure there are other things that have a much higher priority such as making the campaign playable and bugfree. Again, I thought I'd weigh in here and give you my thoughts on it. It's looking pretty interesting, so I'm interested in seeing where this is going.

Cheers!

Thanks for giving it a try, and for all the feedback, its much appreciated!

I know some units look worse than others, but some of them are simply old and we have improved our skills since then, but still didnt want to just waste that material without having replacements.

The campaign is largely not ready yet, and will be developed and debugged. Thats one of my main tasks now for the second realease, or third.

As for the metallic textures, im definately not an expert on that and i do agree some armours look too polished. You know whats the main reason for that? Time. I would mostly cut corners on things like that. Making textures is time consuming in itself, but making "realistic" looking textures takes a lot more time for me. Or maybe im just not that good at that, or both. Anyway, its so much stuff to do im often cutting corners just to make things look 'ok' and move on.
Hopefuly, with more of the mod being completed, i will later be able to focus on perfecting some of those things that are outdated or bad looking.

@Mr_Nygren

Great job, and again thanks a lot for helping!

---------------------------------------------
To others who are following the mod; we are working on implementing more materials for another release; the plan is to add 8 rosters already completed by Assurbanippal, but im also adding some of my units to other rosters; we will be also working on the campaign and try to inlcude it for the next release. All in all, we have already visible progress since the release, so things are looking promising. I would hope to get the second release out within 2 months, so maybe early september. Depends on the development.

Thanks to everyone interested in the mod! For me its really surprising with the number of downloads within this first week, but it is definately very encouraging, so its easier to continue making the mod. Cheers!

[PeaMan]

Very nice work! +rep

[Vladyvid]

@Warcrafthero
Thanks so much for the files you sent me, i did some testing and everything was working fine. Then it was late and i was tired so i just quit. Im going to continue testing futher this week, to see how far i can go.
You have pointed out many issues that i will be trying to adress during the next weeks, and hopefully eliminate other causes of instability. I must say thanks to your efforts, im now fairly confident that we can include the campaign for the next release. It will need some more work, no doubt, but i already see the light at the end of that tunnel.

For me, you are now Faerunhero! ofc + rep

@PeaMan
Thank you, much appreciated!

[Vladyvid]

A little update from me. I added some units for Cormyr that will be available for the next release.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

They are, from top to bottom:

Arabellan Armsmen
Arabellan Arbalesters
Arabellan Phoenix Guard
Forest Sentinels
Dragon Shields
Royal Regiment Cavalry

[banskie100]

A little update from me. I added some units for Cormyr that will be available for the next release.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

They are, from top to bottom:

Arabellan Armsmen
Arabellan Arbalesters
Arabellan Phoenix Guard
Forest Sentinels
Dragon Shields
Royal Regiment Cavalry

my feedback: why are their arms so small? you should make them bigger since they look like malnourished but only the arms part. It should trick the eyes that they're wearing some surcoat/jupon over their armour. Also for the torso, reduce their size so it wont look like an inflated balloon. That is all, keep it the good work!

[sullivanclan1]

Will there be a full campaign in the near future?

[Gigantus]

Looking good.

Tip: try to leave the top left of your unit cards open for the soldier count number. Sometimes simply 'flipping\mirroring' the image will do the trick already - like it would for the cross bow unit and the spear carrier (first spoiler, bottom pic).

[Vladyvid]

Will there be a full campaign in the near future?

Yes the next release will include the campaign. Probably in september if things go well.

Looking good.

Tip: try to leave the top left of your unit cards open for the soldier count number. Sometimes simply 'flipping\mirroring' the image will do the trick already - like it would for the cross bow unit and the spear carrier (first spoiler, bottom pic).

Oh youre right, thanks for the tip. I have to remember that when making new unit cards.

[sullivanclan1]

Good! i will consider installing it when it comes out.