[RELEASED] Multi-Faction Armour Upgrade /Aesthetic Overhaul/Balance Patch submod for MOS 1.6.1
Armour upgrades are currently entirely implemented, I'm just waiting on permissions for some parts. I don't see why I can't show you the stuff that I've already obtained permissions to use though*IMPORTANT NOTE*: I did not create any of these models or textures. I've done nothing more complicated than bring the models and textures together into a compilation. The work belongs to it's respective authors who were generous enough to let me use them. Without them this submod would have been impossible, so I'd like to extend a warm thank you to all of them. You guys rock.
Concept:
Implementation of armor upgrades for Elven Factions, Dale, Mordor, Isengard, Orcs of the Misty Mountains and Orcs of Gundabad. My aim with this submod is to give your armies the feeling of growing along with you as you progress into your campaign. Armies that start out lightly armored and unprofessional looking will (generally) evolve over the course of the campaign to resemble a more imposing, professional force worthy of a late game army. However, the upgraded models will (hopefully) not be such a jump from their unupgraded counterparts that it seems unrealistic. For example, Sword Quendi won't suddenly be 4 inches taller because you upgraded their armour. A certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required however, as you will see, but nothing too absurd.
A good example of an army that has received a lot of changes is that of the Silvan Elves. Their armies become more heavily armoured, it's true, but their heavy infantry, already heavily armoured, get new armour textures which are colour coded according to their function on the battlefield. Melee units will have deep red cloaks, in addition to new armour textures that are specific to melee troops, while bowmen units will have their own colours and Sindar Archers will have another colour scheme still. In addition to looking really cool, these changes reflect a subtler organization among the heavy infantry corps. Their uniforms clearly distinguish melee, from ranged companies and the commander unit from everyone else.
Additionally, this submod will contain many of dIRECT0R's texture recolours for the High Elven, Lorien and Silvan Elf factions. Lorien was probably the most changed visually by this addition, with the Silvan Elves coming in a close second and the High Elves coming in last.
High Elves
Sword Quendi- Upgraded version on the left
http://cloud2.steampowered.com/ugc/597013386396633797/F067A6CB400B86466FA7CEF4A7A2E53DE174EE4E/
Bow Quendi- Upgraded Version on the right
http://cloud2.steampowered.com/ugc/597013386393052181/D0F0A1EC81A5C30B843847CCEF30E317FA2A8E0A/
Eldar Guardians- Model replaced with Eregion Wardens
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183074561
Silvan Elves
Elven Light Archers- Upgraded version in the front
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=174063542
Silvan Horse Archers- Upgraded version on the left
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...8E39E286C1B16/
Sindar Bodyguard- Upgraded version on the right
http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/59...1FE02C87E3B52/
Silvan Archer Guard- Upgraded version in the front
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=174775507
Sentinels of the Woodland Realm- upgraded version on the left
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183074657
Woodland Wardens- Upgrade on the left, new model on the right
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=175103847
Silvan Shield Bearers
http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/...8BDCA243C3006/
Silvan Heavy Spearmen
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=173526594
Silvan Heavy Swordsmen
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=174775507
Lorien
Texture changes to vanilla MOS units (No model changes)
Lorien Spearmen
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183221649
Lorien Infantry
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183221618
Galadhrim Archers
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183221579
Galadhrim Heavy Swordsmen
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183221521
Galadhrim Guards
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183221551
Units with new models
Lorien Lancers- Upgraded version on the left
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183074394
Orcs of Gundabad
Upgraded Orc Halberdiers
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=174158736
Upgraded Orc Marauders
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=174158817
Warg Riders of Gundabad/Misty Mountains- Upgraded version on the right
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=174049442
Mordor
Orc Archers- Upgraded version on the right
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=175200472
Orc Raiders- Upgraded version
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=174057946
The unupgraded Orc Raider model is the previous upgraded version available in MOS. Overall a much heavier, imposing looking soldier. I'll upload a better picture when Steam stops being terrible.
Uruks- New model on the right, upgraded version on the left
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=175317331
Uruk Halberds- New model on the right, upgraded version on the left
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...9BE0656404792/
Olog-Hai- New model on the left and New armour upgrade on the right
http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/...CFBA9D4F7ED80/
Mountain Trolls- Now use the old Olog-hai model when upgraded
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...B75130707A3C9/
Dale
Dale Cavalry- Upgrade on the left
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=184086186
Dalesmen- Upgrade on the left
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=184086136
Hearth Watchmen- Upgrade on the left
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=184086088
Dale Swordsmen- Upgrade on the right
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183949254
Rivermen-Upgrade on the right
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183947839
Dale Yeomen- Upgrade on the right
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=183947705
And this unholy abomination that, with any luck, will haunt your dreams for eternity
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=184810884
Isengard
New Models/Textures for Uruk-hai Raiders/Archers
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...012A9322A9E57/
Upgraded Uruk Berserkers
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfile.../?id=175291382
Harad
Reworked Corsair Infantry/Archers
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...C8C21FFB06026/
Eriador
Northern Line Volunteers- Just a slight change to make them use mail and leather rather than simply leather
http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/...C26F7C81E16D2/
This is just a small amount of what can be found in terms of armor upgrades. As I said earlier, I'm still waiting on some permissions and some clarifications. Certain factions have received more love than others. Not because of any bias, but simply because there were more resources to draw from for certain factions than for others. For instance, Mordor and the Silvan Elves have probably received the most in terms of an image overhaul (Almost every Silvan Elf unit has a unique looking upgrade) but many other factions got some love and I'm constantly scouting around for new things to add.
Balance Patch [Optional]
Absolutely not needed to run the game. It will be included in a separate, clearly labled folder. It's just my vision of how the game should play and you may take it or leave it as you will. That said, it is a balance Patch which I have been testing for probably over 100 hours so far. Still lots of work to be done, but here is a brief list of what you can expect to find:
-Unit sizes tweaked-
Usually this means that things have gotten bigger. Not significantly larger, but the scope of your battles will definitely increase.
-Stat tweaks-
Almost every unit in the game will see stat changes. I.E.,For the Elves this usually means a decrease in defensive power, and for the Orc factions this generally translates to a slight increase in defense AND offense. Unit stats will (hopefully) reflect, relatively, how powerful a unit should be once you've obtained the above armour upgrades. An example of this is Lorien Lancers and Uruk Berserkers, both of which become heavily armoured after being upgraded. Their baseline armor stats have been increased to reflect the fact that, in the late game, they are considered and balanced around being heavily armoured units.A little note on hitpoints: I'm much more generous with these than the vanilla version. Many elite units across the factions have units that have multiple hitpoints. Most Elven units have 2, Many Dwarven units have 2, and most elite units across the factions have 2. Additionally, all general's body guard units have at least 2, with hero units such as The Witch King's and Thranduil's regiments have 3. These units are undergoing a lot of balancing to ensure that they are tough units worthy of guarding such great heros, while remaining balanced.
Unit Roles on the battle field:
This is still being worked on, but I can give you an example of a unit type that has undergone some important changes:Two-handed infantry have universally been given the ability to frighten both infantry and cavalry. I find that in the current build they lack a real purpose on the battlefield. They're kind of stuck between sword & board warriors and spearmen. They lack the defense to keep themselves alive in a prolonged melee, which precludes them from being used extensively on the front lines as they would otherwise take large casualties. This change was made to play up their niche as shock troops who can be used to break up and route formations, if used properly at the opportune moment.
Mercenaries:These will be "special occasion" units who's abilities exceed those of your regular troops as well as being more numerous. The number of mercs available to you is unchanged from vanilla MOS because I liked the balance that the team struck in terms of their availability.As things are worked out and finalized, I'll update this section with more information.
Elites: Extremely powerful, but few in number. If you're one of those people who likes to create armies out of elites then you should find yourself taking unsupportable casualties. E.G. One on one, a crappy unit of Dunland tribesmen will deal 50%+ casualties to a Gundabad Hammers (which has two hitpoints and high attack/armour values) unit by virtue of sheer weight of numbers. Elites are powerful, but they won't carry the day for you all by themselves. The idea is that your armies need to be balanced and also work together, otherwise you'll find yourself spending most of your time retraining your elite core, rather than using them in consecutive battles.
[tentative] -Armour Upgrades moved farther up the tech tree-
As I said, this mod is intended, largely, to enhance your armies in the late game. I will attempt to move armour upgrades around in tech tree in order to keep them consistent with the armor improvements that you'll see on the battle map. I.E. I will try to change Bow Quendi so that you'll be upgrading their armour to chainmail instead of leather. I'm sure this is possible, I just have to figure it out.
Special thanks to:
dIRECT0R for all of his hard work and for letting me using his textures from dIRECT0R's cUt.
You can find a link to some of his stuff here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1-for-MOS-1-41
mattgoby and the Gundabad team for allowing me to use their Armoured Warg and armoured Silvan Horse Archer model/textures.
Their work can be found here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...RKING-PREVIEWS
SHREDDER for the awesome models used for the Quendi upgrades and the new version of Eldar Shieldbearer
firemedic for pointing out to me that the Angmar Shortpike and Blades of Carn Dum models and textures were free to use.
His submod for FRoGs can be found here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...bmod-for-FRoGS
A big thank you to the FRoME team. Many of the models used herein are the fruits of their labours and they kindly made it open source for all of us.
Their thread is here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...D-TO-NEW-FORUM
MOS team for creating an amazing submod; You'll need it to use this submod.
Link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ummervacation!
SKYKRIM and SHREDDER for the upgraded Lorien lancers and and Uruk models.
Link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...T-OF-FRoGS-mod
Elphir of Dol Amroth and the Vale of Anduin team for their Mirkwood Marchwardens model
Link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...highlight=vale
Mhaedros for allowing me to use part of his Dale Armour Upgrades mod
Link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...r-Upgrades-1-1
Brevi for new Uruk-hai Raiders/Archers models/textures
Link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...0-3-1-by-Brevi
Bucefalo for his work on Reworked Corsairs and Araval for reuploading it.
link:http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...sairs-of-Umbar
Dea Paladin for his Reworked Silvan Elves Mod, Uruk Deathbringers and Light Elven Infantry models.
Reworked Silvan Elves: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...d-Silvan-Elves
Dea's AUM: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ador-(For-1-2)
FinkPloyd for determining the causes of and finding solutions for a variety of my blunders.
DisgruntledGoat for the Dunedain texture. You can find his work everywhere? He's responsible for the Rhun and Eriador factions.
T&D for the excellent troll models used in Mordor troll upgrades.
link: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...discussion%29I
Final Note: As it's my first submod and it's made entirely from other people's work, it's important that I insist on this point: The models and textures in this submod are the property of those that worked hard to make them. I don't own any of the work that you see above. Additionally, I've tried to be very fastidious in both tracking down people for permissions and not displaying anything in this post that I don't have the right to use. That said, I'm still a human being. If your work has been included here either in whole, or in part, in a way that you haven't given permission for then let me know and it will be removed immediately and without question.I will update the preview further as permissions come in.
Known "Bugs" and Oddities
The upgraded Silvan Sentinels of the Woodland Realm models do not have animated bowstrings.
At a great distance, some units have sprites that don't reflect their armour upgrades. It's an oddity that I plan to fix in the future, if I can. It's hardly game breaking though and you can fix this in a number of ways. You can either turn up the unit details, or check out this thread for some answers: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?472285-Small-tip-on-sprite-Draw-distance
Download Links
http://www.putlocker.com/file/853BDA57DF83B70D
http://rapidshare.com/share/3A765156...58835EAC535D83
Installation Instructions:
1- Install the files directly into your data folder for Third Age.
For steam users, you can find the relevant data folders here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Medieval II Total War\mods\
2- I forgot to move the balance patch files out of the unit_models folder. It's sitting in there in a folder labeled "Optional Balance Patch [BETA]." If you want to install it
Just a few things before you download and play:
1- Make backups of your unit_models folder and your export_descr_unit if you want to install the balance patch. If something goes wrong, these files are your life line.
2- The balance patch is unfinished in that I haven't given all the units all the traits that I want to. However, the stat changes are in place and you can easily play a campaign/custom battle with any faction. I included it because I want some feedback on how battles/campaigns feel for other people. I think they're good, but I'm interested in what YOU think. Post all comments here and I'll take them into account for the final release.
3- You need MOS 1.6.1 to play this. If you're using 1.6 your game is going to explode if you install this.
4- Finally, just a few difficulty suggestions for casual players interested in using the balance patch and maintaining a good challenge:
Free Peoples
Dwarven and Elven factions- VH/VH
Gondor, Eriador/Arnor, Dale, Rohan factions- H/H
Forces of Evil
Orcs of the MM- H/M or H/H
Orcs of Gundabad- H/H or H/M
Mordor- H/H or VH/H
Isengard- H/H
Dunland- H/H or VH/H
Harad- H/M or H/M
Rhun- H/H or VH/H
That's it. Enjoy, everyone!
Additional Fixes:
Attachment sets folder. Put this in the folder labeled "unit_models" inside the data folder in your mod directory. Back up the folder before you do this.
http://rapidshare.com/share/05326C36...36F931D5957664
Black box fix for Silvan Forest Wardens:
https://rapidshare.com/download/shar...CECA72D5496902
Stick this into your unit_models folder which is located inside the data folder in your mod directory. As usual, back up all files in your mod directory.
Missing Texture fix:
If you're having troubles with missing textures then stick this mod inside your data folder. Also included is an updated export_descr_unit which will fix the bug that prevents you from starting a new campaign. To install the campaign fix simply go into the unit_models folder and find the folder labeled "Optional Balance Patch [BETA]" and copy the file in there directly into data.
https://rapidshare.com/download/shar...E61326F3F71D35
Latest version of the Balance Patch: http://rapidshare.com/share/FE1D0637...E93908EF956C4A
Voila! You're done! In the future version for 1.6.2 I'll amalgamate all of these fixes so you won't have to do all of this running around.
Originally Posted by IZ-Master
