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

[Vladyvid]

An unexpected update. I visited a friend of mine, who is a musician lets say, without getting in too much detail, and he suprised me showing a track he made for the mod! I wanted him to send it to me, to post it, but he said it wasnt ready yet. I think if all works out ok it could be something like the main menu music theme. When i get my hands on it i will post it. Pretty cool surprise tho.

[Gigantus]

Looking forward to listen to it.

[Warcrafthero]

Congratulations for the forum page

[Vladyvid]

Thank you!

[Vladyvid]

I started doing some modding at my new place. Im still busy after work most of the time, but tried to find some time and i managed to finish the Spellguard for Luruar.

Here a bit of lore on that unit if you like to check it: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Spellguard

[Vladyvid]

I knopw. The model itself is proportional, and neither are the arms 'malnourished' nor the torso too bulky. The problem that i have is with the rigging of that element, where the arms and torso join. I always have problems with that. I tried different vertex assignment with different models, but im beginning to think there is a problem with the vanilla sketelon. Im saying this because even for a unit that has the arms rigged correctly (as it may look) the arms will still be too close to the torso, or also often there is that problem of arms becoming skinny like you pointed out.

Im getting pissed a lot sometimes because the models look good and proportional in milkshape but then in game its this . I dont always try to correct that (no time for perfection), cause i have too many other units to do so im cutting corners mate, cutting corners and leaving those malnourished arms to be corrected in the future ...maybe... I mean the whole model is nothing special i know, but lets say its better than nothing. A lot of this mod is created like that, so that its better than nothing. Cause the alternative is being perfectionist and slowing down development, and that is not really a good idea for a mod thats in development for almost 9 years now.......

[NekoGenijalan]

Hey Vlad, congrats on getting new forum for this mod and getting the release done. Nice job keeping this alive

[Vladyvid]

Thanks Neko, and good to see you around!

Yeah who would have thought it will take so much time, but to be honest there were several long breaks when the mod was not being developed. Anyways, we are where we are.

[NekoGenijalan]

I guess it normal to take a break from time to time. I think I haven't played a TW game in a loooong time, like five years or so. Recently I started few mods and I am enjoying this time of pandemic by playing old games since I ca't get used to new games at all I am getting old

[Vladyvid]

Yes i understand completely, we are all getting old unfortunately, thats the way of things.

While you are trying out some mods, you might give this one a try aswell, but remember the current version is nothing more than a demo. The next release will include the campaign, though with a simple trick the campaign can be unlocked even in this version.

Anyway good to see you around Neko. Dont forget to check up on the progress here, cause there will be some new things comming in the next several weeks for sure.

[Vladyvid]

I got back to the units, after a little bit of a break (was just tired).

These guys are called Black Cloaks, and they are very rare and elite so not much variety, but i like how the texture turned out:


I mean there will be some variety in terms of faces and both versions of the hood in different colours, but thats all. Can you guess which faction they belong to? I think its easy.

Designs inspired by great artworks of Todd Lockwood (https://www.toddlockwood.com/)




I will be now focusing on the Kingdom of Tethyr. Have some models started, so will do the units of Champions Vigilant order first. The main focus for the upcoming release is to have more factions rosters completed, especially those in the west. Thats why i want to do Tethyr and later also Amn, at least partially.

[z3n]

Whoa! That looks great.

[Vladyvid]

Thank you.

[Gigantus]

Nice work!

[Vladyvid]

Im glad you think so.

I dont have much to add right now. Im working on several things, but today im taking a little break from that. I will probably try to set a release date for the campaign version. In a way, because of Warcrafthero's debug, that could be released even already. We are just trying to add more playable factions, units, more content.

At the same time, i think its really likely that i will remove the named PSF feature. The forts names will go, but some of the forts will remain - only not many.

That will improve the gameplay, so i think thats a really positive change.


Characters Special Abilities - "Spells"

I thought maybe Warcrafthero could come here and tell this himself, but the mod will have a new cool feature that he created. Namely, there will be character powers usable in battle, that will basicly simulate several protective spells. As i understand, one character can get one of those abilities, so not all of them. Thats in a way similar to how Warhammer character abilities work. I think this is a nice feature to have, and definately something very much in tune with the lore and setting of this mod. Credit goes to Warcrafthero, who could explain everything about this feature much better himself im sure.

Otherwise, the work on the new units continues, and all the team is really doing great job.

[Warcrafthero]

Thank you Vladyvid As you have already said, some characters and generals will be abe to use special powers that simulate various spells. I do not want to reveal them but i can say that as of today five powers "spells" have been implemented; their use is limited in battle so if a wise player uses one of them at the right time, it could change the course of a battle but they are not overpowered. As Vladyvid wrote, these powers fit very well with the mod setting and lore. I am sure you will enjoy this unique feature

[Vladyvid]

Thanks for the explanations Warcrafthero!

I got some news, the release date will be announced within next few days. Just working on something to show with that announcement.

EDIT:

To clarify, im talking about the release date for the Faerun [Forgotten Realms] TW v0.2 (Faerun v0.2 in short), that is the second release, but the first official campaign release - so this is the first main release, the real big deal for everyone working on the mod. Years of our work finally .. ah but those words will have to wait a bit. Im personally really excited to have it already rising on the horizon, so to speak. Soon!

[sullivanclan1]

So we will be able to play the campaign right?

[assurbanippal]

Yes

[Vladyvid]

Greetings to all!

It is my great pleasure to announce here that Faerun [Forgotten Realms] Total War version 0.2 is set to be released on 15.10.2020.

This will be the first official campaign release for the mod, something that we have been so stubborny working on for all these years.

There were times during the development of this mod, when hope was fading and the idea of this mod being ever released was as dim and distant, as those memories are now in the light of this announcement. Thanks to all the efforts on the part of the modding team, countless hours of work and dedication, we can finally look back at all that work and see that it was not in vain. I’m not gonna hide the fact that i has several long breaks from working on this mod, and there were times when i doubted if i will continue working on this ever again. That is just how things go in life sometimes, there are some ups and downs, but at the end of the day, we are now all here, and the campaign release is just around the corner.


I would like to express my unending gratitude and thanks to everyone who was at any point involved in the development of this mod, supported it, or helped in any way.

My special thanks go to several people without whom I believe the development of this mod would have failed, and who motivated me to continue:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Vercassivelaunos
I know that you are not active on these forums anymore, but my first thanks goes to you – for giving this mod the impetus it needed so much in the beginning, for giving all that time and energy that you did, for all the cool ideas and lots of early work development that you initiated and helped with.

Titus le Chmakus
When things were bad and i couldnt work on this mod, you kept my seat warm and you continued forth. Your dedication and countless hours of work will never be forgotten, at least not by me. Thank you for all the great ideas, all of the suport and energy you invested in this mod.

Assurbanippal
Sometimes i think you are just working on your models non stop. You have done so much for this mod over the years, created so many models, that it was always difficult for me to keep up and lets be honest i rarely did keep up with you. Thanks for all that time and dedication, this would be never possible without you.

There are ofcourse more people to be credited for working on this mod, and the full list of contributors will be posted on the v0.2 release date: 15.10.2020

I will only add that initially i wanted this announcement to be acompanied by a video trailer, but that is not ready yet, and i dont want to wait any longer.

Thanks!