[Download] Authentic Ancient World 0.05

[Hetairos]

I like the bronze theme

Thanks mate, really appreciate the support.

Hey guys a quick update, keep an eye out in the next few days i will be posting images of all the hellenic and the legion specific shield that are finished. that is 30 new roman shield patterns, 8 hellenic silver shields, 3 spartan shields, 28 hellenic bronze shields, the plain bronze and silver hoplon retextured for decals and a brand new retextured thuros painted shield and the plain variant. Hopefully when this mod is hosted posting new artwork will be easier as i can i can post in a textures thread or faction specific thread. See you guys soon

That's good to hear, I really hope that we will be able to use a hosted forum soon, so we can organize our threads, rather than use a wall only. Hloeric, I have the feeling that we will start with the Roman Faction first What do you think? On a side note I also added a PS on my UI post concerning your work on the signature as well, which I forgot at first place.

[Causeless]

I absolutely love the UI. Rome 2 modding IMO can go further than Rome 1 modding some day, after CA get around to releasing some editors... I really hope they do, at least.

[Akhenaton]

Your Mod looks great!

However, when I click on your link I just get an error on steam and browsing through the workshop unfortunately I can not find your mod. Is it still there?

[tone]

Good luck folks. You certainly have permission to use anything that I created.

Great work so far.

Just one thing I noticed on some of the screenshots and it's about using shadowing on textures....if possible try and imagine where shadows would actually fall in real life - between cheekguards and cheeks, underneath the brims of helmets, under cloaks draped around shoulders, under layers of clothing or armour - and try adding that to your textures....you'll find that the whole thing suddenly looks more lifelike and realistic.

[Hetairos]

I absolutely love the UI. Rome 2 modding IMO can go further than Rome 1 modding some day, after CA get around to releasing some editors... I really hope they do, at least.

Thanks for the appreciation. And my top list is:

1. Campaign Map Editor
2. Battle Map Editor
3. Unlock Building Slots
4. Refine the existing Tools
5. Fix the database mess by removing the hardcoded limitations

Your Mod looks great!

However, when I click on your link I just get an error on steam and browsing through the workshop unfortunately I can not find your mod. Is it still there?

Checked all links and updated them all. All should work now properly.

Good luck folks. You certainly have permission to use anything that I created.

Great work so far.

Just one thing I noticed on some of the screenshots and it's about using shadowing on textures....if possible try and imagine where shadows would actually fall in real life - between cheekguards and cheeks, underneath the brims of helmets, under cloaks draped around shoulders, under layers of clothing or armour - and try adding that to your textures....you'll find that the whole thing suddenly looks more lifelike and realistic.

Thanks tone, highly appreciate your mindset and suggestions. The advice will definitely be helpful to our texturers and modelers.

Cheers!

PS: We are still "recruiting", respectively looking for assistance! Top Priority: Artists (e.g. Photoshop) and writers (e.g. faction intros and descriptions)... but also musicians, researchers and any assistence from the community is very welcome. We WANT immersion, so artists, designers, musicians and writers PM me immediately ^^

[billydilly]

Do you need something like this (Photoshop CC)?

[Hetairos]

Do you need something like this (Photoshop CC)?

Wow, nice surprise! That is looking gorgeous! We need exactly something like this. Maybe we could have a chat on steam (same username: alecwermuth)? There is a element I would like to send you which would be awesome to be incorporated in your artwork. If you do not have steam I could PM you later.

[Hetairos]

More good news this morning!

hollowfaith did not only gave us permission to make use of his fantastic music from RTR:VII, but offered to remaster those existing tracks for Rome II, share his work from RTR: Project and write a little selection of tracks specifically designed for Authentic Ancient World. How awesome is that?

Many thanks and welcome on board hollowfaith!

PS: Currently, I am trying to reach apple from the RSII team, but had no luck yet. EB music won't probably be incorporated as I can not find a single dev answering my mails, UNLESS any of you guys from back than knows the correct people to address and shares the names with me.

[deivid]

It is the first time I go on this forum and really looks amazing ...good work guys

[billydilly]

Your welcome

Just PM me with your ideas.

Here is something else I tried:

[Hetairos]

It is the first time I go on this forum and really looks amazing ...good work guys

Thank you deivid, it is motivating to see that people like our work and plans so far

Your welcome

Just PM me with your ideas.

Hi mate, you are producing awesome content, I also like your two new draws. Sorry, it took my so long, I was total busy today with RL and a flood of mails concerning the start of our modification Give me a some time for dinner and afterwards I will send you a PM with some elements I would like to have incorporated.

Cheers and many thanks for taking the time to help us out! Know that it is highly appreciated!

[Mouselord]

Good work

[hollowfaith]

Thanks

alec, I'll do my very best to help you out and I appreciate the chance to redo some of my previous released material that really needs some rework. LOL. Is there some place I should be sending these files too? Also what kind of wav files do they need to be? The standard 16bit, 44khz, or lower?

[billydilly]

Hi,

I got your PM.

it's very easy to change backgrounds and colours, so here are three examples.
It would be great to at some characters to the images.

[Hetairos]

Ah fantastic, you are getting there! Those will be our new signatures I guess

If you can make the last polish, we are ready to use it!

1.) Please, re-use the previous title (without the CA horseman, the "Authentic" big on top and ancient world below, but still using the verging sun!). Good idea to have it just in the flag, but it's not really bad that the previous title was bigger. Actually it was just perfect!

2.) About the environment color, it was pretty much okay that bright (like before in your previous post). The less saturated colors in our mod were more meant for clothing's, armors and stuff. Not so much for the environment. So yeah, just like you did with the flags.

3.) Your draws gave me an awesome idea! We will use your background and color schemes for signatures (and backgrounds) one for each of our superpowers. Red and Roma, for Rome. White-ish and Carthage for Carthago. Purple / Black and any Hellenistic / Macedon city (maybe not athens?) for macedon.

That way people will be able to chose their side

What do you think? Your art with that polish was exactly what I was thinking about. Awesome work!

PS: Just another detail, a just a little bit more dynamic and wavering flag would add a bit more live to the picture. I am currently trying to search for a flag, but as I see its not really that easy to find a suiting object.

[Hetairos]

Allright billydilly! Nevermind about the flag, I didn't found a suitable object yet, I would need to put in more time for the research. BTW as you work with Photoshop could you save all your draws in .PSD formate and by not merging any of the included objects. In case we find a better flag by accident we can change it (and other stuff) in future much easier if we need to.

[billydilly]

Thanks,

all the images are saved in a layered PSD-file. Im using Smart Objects, Adjustment Layers and Layer Masks, so it is very easy to add and remove elements.

[Hetairos]

Hello to all history and Rome II fans out there!

Today is a great day! I am very excited that we just had the chance to become part of the Total War: Rome II Hosted Modifications forum section on TWC. This was one of the few remaining, but yet uncertain organizational milestones we were aiming for. I am glad that we were finally able to realize that for us so important hosting. From now on, we will be able to access and form a collaboration platform for our crew and at the same time get the opportunity to collaborate and communicate with all you awesome people out there.

As the administrator of our forum I excuse myself for keeping this welcome rather short and instead sit down to start with the building and construction of this forum. So, if you remain patient I will soon be able to offer detailed informations, introductions and stickies about us and the future of Authentic Ancient World. Eventually, I will be able to set up our team as well, so we can finally start working on this promising new project.

I am looking forward to a good collaboration and active exchange with you awesome people in future.

Cheers,
Alec and the AAW Crew!

Credits: Many thanks to Gigantus and the TWC community which made this hosting possible.

[Causeless]

Finally!

[Hetairos]

What is Authentic Ancient World?

Authentic Ancient World is a total conversion modification for Total War: Rome II, and a most recent project to bring back and revive the immersion and legacy of Roma Surrectum II.

The Origins of Authentic Ancient World

The original Authentic Ancient World project started as a sub-modification for Divide et Impera. Amongst a solid amount of changes and improvements its most prominent additions were by far the naval and siege warfare aspects. The sub-modification was eventually discontinued due to compatibility issues and reached at its peak about thousand subscribers. Without the foundation of Divide et Impera, Authentic Ancient World started to evolve into a standalone version for Total War: Rome II. New additions were made aiming to rebuild a solid battle and campaign framework on which the old content of the sub-modification can be build on. It's subscriber base fell to around 180 as of the 10th of May. In the meantime a handful of developers extracted the work of the former sub-modification for Divide et Impera and continued to support it. Further sub-modifications evolved building on the former naval and siege warfare modifications and were presented to the Total War: Rome II community. Amongst others the most prominent sub-modifications are based on the naval overhaul with 1'450 subscribers and the siege overhaul with 650 subscribers as of the 10th of May. Following past experiences about modularity of sub-modifications and despite aiming for a total modification of Total War: Rome II, Authentic Ancient World's concept was restructured to finally evolve into a modular modification. Around the framework of modularity, the legacy of Roma Surrectum II and an awesomely supportive community, Authentic Ancient World could reach the following milestones: access to the complete Roma Surrectum II developers database permission to make use of the content of the legendary Roma Surrectum II permission to make use of the content of many of the finest modelers and textures out there assembly of a small and motivated crew access to the Rome Total Realism developers database establishing connections and the creation of a supportive and generous developers network With the last organizational milestone, getting access to the Total War: Rome II Hosted Modifications forum, we were finally able and ready to make use of a great collaboration platform for our crew and at the same time be able to collaborate and communicate with the TWC community. From here, we are looking to expand our crew, to create a proper working set up and to work for and especially with the TWC community.

How does Authentic Ancient World differ from other total modification projects?

Authentic Ancient World aims to bring back the immersion and legacy of Roma Surrectum II, is a modular, an open source and a collaborative project.

The Legacy of Roma Surrectum II

The legendary modifications for Rome: Total War, such as Roma Surrectum II, Rome: Total Realism and Europa Barbarorum, are hold in high esteem. We especially aim to transfer the immersion, legacy and scope of Roma Surrectum II, which is even today the paragon amongst many other representations of the ancient world, into Total War: Rome II. For us Roma Surrectum II was at the same time as beautiful, historic and immersive as no other modification for Rome: Total War could ever become. Many thanks go to dvk901, tone and the the entire Roma Surrectum II Crew for granting us access to the complete Roma Surrectum II developers database, which does include the high quality community effort of a decade, and the permission to make use of the legendary content from the modification itself.

Modularity

We aim to make Authentic Ancient World modular. This is because modularity would give us, users and other developers more freedom, options and variety. That way we could release optional content. Users could pick their preferred modules. Developers could create their own sub-modifications according to personal preference and replace native modules easily. To what extent it will be possible to make our modules compatible with third-party modifications is unclear at this moment Don't expect too much magic here at the beginning. However, if we reach a solid fan base and gain the trust of the community it is very possible that people will start to create sub-modifictions for our, but also for third-party modifications. Making a modification modular is a new experience to us and we hope that we, following this principle, may succeed and give people a more beneficial and diverse experience overall.

Open Source

Our project is completely open source. Any content that is created by our team is freely available to any third party. We want to share freely and ensure that developers and layman historians can freely collaborate and exchange content amongst each other for the greater good. We believe that one does not have to use the entire work of a particular modification to enjoy specific elements of it. Therefore we do not aim to be exclusive and are in return very happy when we meet awesome people with a mindset alike. Keep in mind that we all do like to see our hard work to be acknowledged. Please, take your time to show your respect by simply announcing that you are going to use content and drop one or two lines of credits here.

Open Collaboration

We do share content openly, but we do also collaborate openly. One does not have to be part of our standing crew. Everyone is welcome to contribute to our modification. We seek to make this modification as deep and immersive as it can get and therefore we do appreciate everything that can help us to improve our modification. Furthermore, we do want to actively engage the community. Everyone is welcome to take part in our development, in our discussions and make sure that we get things right. Although keep in mind that our resources to implement concepts are limited unless you are capable to transfer your idea into the game yourself. Hence, help us to make this modification as awesome as it can get and label it a TWC community work!

How does Authentic Ancient World differ from other total modification concepts?

Authentic Ancient World tries to find the balance between aesthetics, immersion and gameplay. At the end however, we do want to be the modification that offers the deepest and most immersive experience for Total War: Rome II.

The Legacy of Alexander the Great anno 218 BC

Our Grand Campaign starts in 218 BC making it possible to re-enact the second Punic War and a few years later the second Macedon War within a twelve turns per year framework. This suits our vision of the modification just awesomely well, since our modification will not put any of the three involved superpowers into one single spotlight. Instead our modification will put the legacy of Alexander the Great in the centre of attention. The previous Punic and Macedonian wars, as well as the wars of the Diadochi could not result in that one hegemonial successor. It is now the time for Rome, Carthage and Macedon to reach out and try to once and for all gain the one supremacy over the ancient world anno 218 BC.

Immersion above All

Authentic Ancient World will focus on immersion and in-depth content. We want to become the number one modification concerning immersion and we want our users to embrace and enjoy ancient history as much as possible.

Historical Authenticity

Compared to the majority of modification out there we do not strive to be historical accurate, but historical authentic. This means that we hold historic accuracy in high esteem, but since historical accuracy is a double-edged sword for our time period, with those very few and sometimes questionable sources from the past, we want to focus on being historical authentic instead and create an authentic, comprehensive and plausible world. There is also absolutely no other way for us, since we do want our modification to be completely sandbox and give all three superpowers of that time period the chance to gain supremacy over the ancient world or even make it possible that other major or minor factions rise and shatter the balance of powers.

Process of Decision Making

In Authentic Ancient World we want to create a completely new game experience were decisions do have actual repercussions. Due to the current game design and its engine it is questionable to what extent we will be able to implement this principle, but we will most certainly give our best to make the game design full of interesting and meaningful decisions which outcomes will be felt even many turns after the actual decision as been made.

Careful Evaluation between Trade-Offs

This principle refers less to Authentic Ancient World's gameplay, but rather to our modification principles. Due to the significant limitations within the engine, there are constantly trade-offs to be made to reach the desired result. This means that oftentimes to be able to implement one feature, another existing feature will be suffering instead. We aim to consider those trade-off dilemmas very well, since we do want to deliver elegant and high quality solutions only.

Significant Outcomes with the Least Possible Amount of Interference

This principle does refer to your modification principles as well. Whenever we touch the database we aim to seek for the way that interferes with the least amount of changes. If we can reach a desired result by changing two entries only, instead of tweaking the entire db table, than we will always prefer the comprehensive and simple way. We do not want to overshot the goal with our modifications and keep as much as possible vanilla and as much as needed Authentic Ancient World to be able to create that game experience we are aiming for.

Credits

This section is dedicated to the awesome people that made this project possible. Without them Authentic Ancient World would have never been come to live.

The Legacy of Roma Surrectum II

- dvk901, tone and the entire Roma Surrectum II Crew: for the incredible support and making this project possible

Developers Collaboration

- Gagonious: for pushing me to bring this project to life and his active and early support - crzyrndm: for all his tutorials, support and highest of high quality modifications - Dresden: for the many great talks about game design and new concepts - Magnar: for the invaluable help to deal with all the db troubleshooting - Selea: for the discussions about the possibilities of modifications

Total War Community

- Total War Center administrators: for their awesome dedication and effort to run the Total War Center and all the Total War Center Forums - Total War Center developers: for their awesome contribution and effort to run the Total War: Rome II Workshop - daniu and all tool wizards: for the legendary Pack File Manager and many more awesome tools

Links:

Here you can find relevant links to our work and third-party content that is related to our project.

Links: Authentic Ancient World

- Authentic Ancient World Group: The steam group with the developers chat of Authentic Ancient World - Authentic Ancient World Collection: The steam collection of all released modules of Authentic Ancient World - Authentic Ancient World Modding Guide: The one guide, reference point and tutorial for future developers-to-be

Links: Authentic Ancient World Partners

- Conflictus Antiquarum Culturarum: Official Forum - Constantine: Rise of Christianity: Official Forum - Divide et Impera: Official Forum - Europa Barbarorum: Official Forum - Magnar Mod: Official Forum - Roma Surrectum II: Official Forum - Rome: Total Realism: Official Forum - Rome II Total Realism: Official Forum - Total War: Age of Bronze: Official Forum

Authentic Ancient World's Collaborators

Here you can find everybody who is and was involved in the development of our project.

Idea and Lead Design

alecwermuth

Artwork

alecwermuth billydilly

Music

Authentic Ancient World Elendil of Númenor hollowfaith Roma Surrectum II apple Arn Elendil of Númenor Garv Marios Aristopoulos Roma: Total Realism Alex McGery A. Rodriguez hollowfaith Europa Barbarorum Ancient Music Ireland Morgan Casey Nick Wylie TPC

UI Design

alecwermuth SilentResident The Roma Surrectum II Modding Crew

Offered Active Support (currently still setting up crew)

ABH2 (db editing) Barune (db editing) Dresden (db editing) Gagonious (db editing) Idreaus (db editing) Sebidee (db editing) Mackles (music) Butan (research) Marshall of France (research) The DuB (research) ChampLoo (textures & models) Hleoric (textures & models) Lord Buio (textures & models) Rafkos (textures & models) .takeR. (textures & models) .vadeR. (textures & models) Wolfman (textures & models) aztec (visuals) Happy Compy (writing)

Important (!)

Open Source Agreement

Sharing is caring. This proves true for the developers community as well. Sharing creates not only a more collaborative, inspiring, rewarding and work-friendly environment for developers, but does also create an incredible amount of benefits for all users of modifications out there.

However, there are a few rules à la gentlemen's agreement which we take serious. As every piece of work that is done by our crew is open source, it doesn't mean that every aspect of the modification is free to use. This is because Authentic Ancient World itself uses content from other developers, who not all like to see their work spread around freely. Hence, here you can find a list of all the third-party work that is included in our modification that needs permission of the original developers to be used in any other modification besides Authentic Ancient World. Those third-party contents are usually to be found as copyrighted music, models, skins and textures in our modification.

Credits go to the awesome collaborators network of the Total War community:

Credits: The Legacy of Rome Surrectum II

The RSII Crew for granting permission to make use of their awesome work from: - Roma Surrectum II (Updated 02/06/1014) The following elements were already incorporated: - Roma Surrectum II: Faction Icon Frames

Credits: Models & Textures

Ahiga for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Ahiga's New Armor Textures v1.0 (Updated 19/10/2013) Artstudio (!) request pending (!) - RM Textures v1.6 (Updated 13/05/2014) Dresden for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: Historical Legions Submod (Updated 06/04/2014) FaLKReN for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Hellenic League Mod v1.6 (Updated 14/01/2014) - Professional Carthaginian Army Mod (Updated 23/11/2013) - Veteran Hoplite Unit Mod (Updated 11/09/2013) Franky235 for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Caesars Legions v1.1 (Updated09/03/2014) gustave for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Gustave's Carthaginian Shields (Updated 15/10/2013) KLAssubanipal for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - KLA's Shield Patterns - Aspis (Updated 20/05/2014) - KLA's "Legacy of Alexander" Hellenistic Units v1.0 (Updated 16/01/2014) - KLA's Gold Pack v1.0 (Updated 16/01/2014) - KLA's "Sons of Mars" Roman Units (Updated 16/01/2014) L'aigle for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Celtis-Galliae Project v2.0 (Updated 17/09/2013) Little Legionaire for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Legionaire's Armies Mod (Updated 15/04/2014) Meneros for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Meneros' Overhaul Mod (Updated 22/01/2014) Miri82 (!) request pending (!) - Iberos Units Vanilla Pack (Updated 25/05/2014) Octavian21 for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Kaziel's Roman v4.0 (Updated 10/12/2013) Pdguru for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Pdguru's Romans in the Field v4.4 (Updated 03/03/2014) PROMETHEUS ts for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Realistic Units Mod (Updated 28/10/2013) remoteriver for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Remoteriver's Cataphracts Mod v1.0 (Updated 25/12/2013) Ryan for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Germanic Tribes (Updated 29/05/2014) VINC.XXIII for granting permission to make use of his awesome models and textures from: - Italian Shields Project (Updated 28/09/2013)

Credits: Collaborators

SilentResident for granting permission to make use of his awesome work from: - UI Fix for the Military Emblem (Updated 09/05/2014)