Medieval 2: HD Mod
Or as I like to call it “the-super-happy-fun-time-mod”.
So what is this mod?
The name says it all, a HD remake. No other details need to be be said... Ok, I'll shed the facts....
How this mod idea came to life...kinda…
It all some time ago when I started to add and mod in new units into the Retrofit mod. Things went smoothly for me, plopping in new characters, tweaking stats, ect. However, it was half way during my fun process when I realized something that stuck out to me in an ugly fashion: the models, both units and environments, in Medieval 2 are an eye sore. Rather than march onto the forums of CA or some other fan site and rant about the poor quality of such a fun game, I decided to take up the task and give this game a remodel that it deserves.
Now you are all thinking: “remodel with quality that you see in today’s rts games? Impossible! That will take you forever! You clearly do not have the time or skill to do so!”
Well ladies and gents, I am going to do it. Everything from units, to buildings, to the freaking vegetation itself (dear god those trees are absolutely hideous). You want proof? Just take a look at this progress already:
Soldier EN_Lmail WIP
Me toying the modeling of a tree
Besides those shiny little gems, here is the objectives list:
· Remodeled units, buildings and vegetation.
· New textures.
· Higher resolution texture space for certain models and other sets.
· Better bump maps.
· Various graphical changes and tweaks.
Future installments and updates I wish to plan to get done will include:
· New town layouts and design.
· More realistic collision for buildings.
· More places to put your units on in defense of you city (like additional keeps )
· Various game play bug fixes.
· Remodel the meta map in the grand campaign.
· T-rexes in fighter jets.
· Improve particle systems.
However, the latter list will only get done after the first initial release.
Simple Q&A
Q: This is a lot of work, how long will it take you to get this done?
A: Depends really. It would take some time for the process of sculpting certain parts. Hands and heads take much longer than others. Luckily the copy and paste feature works in Zbrush so head generating for different cultures won’t take nearly as long as you would think. Also certain items such as vegetation and buildings take surprisingly less time than people think in most cases with the tools I have at my disposal.
Q: Will this run on my system or will it burst into flames?
A: The solution is both on the creator’s part and on the consumer’s part when it comes to specs for performance optimization and visual quality just like any other game. What this means is that I will do my best to keep a balance of beauty and performance, however you, the consumer, must be aware of the technology that you have at your hand. Do you see people play Crysis 3 on Direct X 9 cards from 2006?
Again, for those who are polygon-phobic, there will be another addition I will create that cuts more corners to ensure better performance.
Q: What programs are you going to use for modeling?
A: The programs that I will be using are Zbrush, Maya 2013 edition, Photoshop, CrazyBump, and other various resources.
Q: Are you going to use Milkshape?
A: Only as a means to getting the models and textures into the game engine. In regards to modeling and texture creation, absolutely not.
Q: Is this going to be like other big mods in which there are unique models for other factions, such as the likes of Stainless Steel?
A: No. As for now I am sticking with the plan of remodeling the units that CA has originally created. Super unique models like other mods have will be for later releases. Sculpting models takes time remember.
Q: So why not use Milkshape and re-texture them like other mods do?
A: The reason being for the more time consuming approach is for multiple reasons: one, I can create better looking meshes with proper edge flow. Two, the bump maps and textures look much more natural when baked off of a high resolution models. Three, all games and game assets these days are done through high poly manipulation programs. Just look at Shogun II and Rome II. Besides I am getting a degree in the game industry, why not practice like they do in the actual community?
As I have mentioned before, there will be two different camps that this mod will produce: the Cinematic Edition and the Budget Edition.
The Cinematic Edition contains higher quality models and better resolution textures for all things. This is for people who have beefy systems and want to get the most out of their Medieval 2 experience.
The Budget Edition features the same models, but with some poly reduced aspects to it and lower resolution textures, thus increasing performance. This is intended for people who want to have massive battles instead of eye candy or for people with lesser systems.
So far as of the moment the project is only done by me, but if you are interested in helping in this project, here are some positions that will be offered in the future:
· Modeler: must have understanding of Zbrush or Mudbox for sculpting units and poly-painting them.
· Texture clean up artist.
· Vegetation artist: someone who can make plants, rocks, and other various none-tree foliage with quality textures. If you can’t model plants and veggies, just get good textures and I will make the models or someone else would.
· Beta testers: these can’t be ordinary beta tests, but people who can stress test the graphics quality and frame rate on their comps to help get an idea of minimum system requirements for future downloaders.
· Compositor: someone who can composite this entire project into one clean folder for downloaders.
· Level designer: redesign the city layout, make them more interesting!
Releases:
While getting out a big fat beta with everything done is going to take more than a few weeks, I will plan on letting out “appetizer” downloads. Essentially aesthetic snippets for people to test out and see if they work.
Again, be patient with this mod, for such things take time. However I am confident that once I get a more established foot hold on most parts of this mod the production and speed with increase.
If you wish to support, just hand me your patience.
Medieval 2: HD
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Originally Posted by PaulH
