[三国上] Rise of Three Kingdoms - Official Mod Preview

[Seether]

Greetings once again, everyone!

Another month, another update. Rise of Three Kingdoms is now at version 4.4 and brings with it a bunch of updates to the mod, but it primarily focuses on improving the soldiers in all of the Han factions. Prior to now, all tiers and upgrades of Han units resulted in similar looking soldiers of the same tier/upgrade - a light swordsman at armor upgrade 1 looked the same between factions, a base heavy crossbowman looked the same same between factions, etc. Now is no longer the case. While the base light soldier will look the same between factions (leather lamellar vests, light clothing and armaments), once light units get their first armor upgrade you will see what this new patch changes. Specifically soldiers will wear different armors based on their region of origin, in addition to normal variations in robe and cap color and scarves. Below you can see three sets of regional units (Left to Right: Jingzhou, Yong-Liang, Zhongyuan) that exemplify the regional diversity explained above.

The heavy tier of Han units received the same treatment, but also received much more attention to create regional diversity amongst the Han factions. I would argue that this was highly necessary as, even though it was a civil war, smith would create regional variations of arms and armor which soldiers of those regions would then wear to battle... plus, for gameplay purposes, it breaks up the monotonous nature of all similar soldiers looking the same. Diversity in such instances is good. Along with new regional armor variations, heavy units also received new shield patterns, helmet types, and a new crossbow model. So now, instead of the region of a heavy unit only able to be deciphered by their type of helmet, their armor and overall appearance makes them highly distinguishable from one another. Below you will find several images: first is a group of Jiangdong Heavy Crossbowmen (note new crossbow), followed by Ba-Shu Heavy Halberdiers, and then an image of combat between Yong-Liang and Jingzhou troops. In the last image, make note of the three variations of helmet of the Yong-Liang soldiers (center and background).

While the diversity of the basic Han units was the main point of this update, I also upgraded the models and textures of several other units. Liu Bei's Shock Brigade, the White Horse Fellows, the Flying Bear Army, and Yellow Turban Bandits (the latter two can be seen below) were all completely changed from their previous appearances. While nothing was particularly wrong with these units, I guess they just no longer stood up to my high standards and I needed to improve them. The Yellow Turbans I paid special attention to, with three different types of headwear, new swords and two variations of shields. Now, as one of the most common mercenary troops, you might not mind having them in your army.

Outside of the enhancement to regional diversity in Han soldiery, a ton of other minor changes were made for the version 4.4 Update. Unit cards and info pics were updated for all of the units that had their appearance changed, Hereje's beautiful High Quality Sky Textures Project 1.0 was incorporated as some good eye candy, diplomacy values were modified to make the AI accept becoming a protectorate under dire circumstances, a script was added to make the Xianbei more active (than sitting around doing nothing all game), starting rebel garrisons were overhauled by region, and Han captain strat models were recolored to make them match their associated faction. All-in-all a lot of quality of life improvements were included and can be found throughout this update. The full changelog can be found here.

The version 4.4 (Diversity) Update can be downloaded here - to install, point installer at your main Medieval II Total War folder.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must have both the Rise of Three Kingdoms 4.0 Full Release & RoTK v4.3 Update installed prior to installing the RoTK v4.4 Update. Also, as usual, the patch is NOT save-game compatible.

Happy gaming!

[Seether]

Apparently I'm a big idiot and made some negative values into positive values in the diplomacy files, which has resulted in the AI vassalizing each other waaaaay too often. A hotfix to fix this issue has been released here.

[Seether]

Some people were having trouble downloading the lone descr_diplomacy.xml file, so I have re-uploaded the above hotfix as a .zip file. If you downloaded previous to right now, please re-download and install again.

[Seether]

Version 4.5 on the way very soon...

[Mev]

Very cool that you're still updating this mod

[Morrowgan]

Your continued updates are giving me life. BTW I'm only six chapters away from finally finishing reading the Romance.

[Seether]

Rise of Three Kingdoms Version 4.5 is now available for download!

Be aware, it is an all-in-one installation, so you need to delete your prior RoTK mod installation prior to installing version 4.5

[Morrowgan]

Congratulations on the release and your new child! +rep

[Seether]

Greetings once again, everyone!

It has been several months since the last update, but that is because I have been extremely busy with making some much needed improvements to the mod (and had a new baby!). Essentially version 4.5 is a compilation of all previous versions of the mod but, more than that, it makes a ton of changes and improvements to an already extensive total conversion mod.

For starters, there have been quite a few changes to the campaign map. Terrain alterations were made in several regions, such as clearing of much forested areas from Gong'an and Lujiang, adding a series of lakes to the former Jiangxia commandery and, most noticeable, the inclusion of a new settlement in the heart of China. Previously, there was no route between Luoyang and Wancheng - one had to either go east, then back west through Sishui pass or go west, then back east through Chang'an and Tong Pass. Historically speaking, this shouldn't be the case - although there are mountains between Luoyang and Wangcheng, there was direct access between those two cities through those mountains. This area, part of southern Henan commandery, had several cities. One city, Yangcheng, was added and now provides a direct link between two of the more important settlements in Three Kingdoms China. Below you can see a screenshot of the newly reformed region.

But the focus of the versions 4.5 update is the characters and, to start off, many characters had their biographies rewritten, stats and traits tweaked, and 6 new characters were added. The first five of these - Zhuge Xuan, Wang Zhong, Wu Zhi, Guo Gong & Zhu Hao - were incorporated into the Unaligned Faction, providing some more useful characters to bribe and add to your growing empire. The sixth character, the famed Xu Shao, was added to the roster of the warlord Liu Yao - leader of the Yangzhou faction. Xu Shao is someone that most Three Kingdoms fans know of, through his interactions with Cao Cao, however historically he died within about a year of when the mod starts. Despite that, this interesting character was missing at a time when he most definitely was active and participating in the ever-growing conflicts around the country, specifically where he was located at in the Jiangdong region.

Another addition to characters was the creation of a few unique traits for a select group of particularly notorious people. These characters - Lü Bu, Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shu & Li Jue - were all particularly dishonorable, in their own right, yet nerfing their Honor rating could not normally be done without tanking some of their other traits. So, to accomplish this and add greater immersion and flavor, new traits were made for each of these characters. Below you can see the traits (and high Dishonor rating) for both Lü Bu and Li Jue.

The biggest part of this update was the visual improvement of characters, both on the campaign map and in battles. For the former there was a lot of work done to make improvements to texture and model quality, as well as better distribution of assets already available. One specific change was the overhauling of rebel commanders based upon on the culture of local rebel garrison. For example, if the local rebel garrison and commander were of the Nanman culture, then the commander would have a Nanman model on both the campaign and battle maps. And such is the case for rebel Han, Korean, Shanyue, and Northern Nomad cultures. Another change had to do with Sun Ce, as his battle model was completely overhauled and thus he needed a matching model for the campaign map. Below you can view Sun Ce's new model, flanked on the left by Zhou Yu and the right by Taishi Ci.

However, the most time and effort was put into the battle models of the era's heroes. Not only the most famous heroes, but also those who were either important to their respective faction or integral to the struggles of the Three Kingdoms yet overlooked by most. While in the previous version 4.4 (Diversity) Update I focused on improving the common soldier, one thing this mod had sorely needed was improving the characters themselves. After all, the Three Kingdoms is beloved because of its characters and this mod has put a focus on them since Day 1. It was only fitting that the last update of this mod offered special treatment to these heroes. All told, in the version 4.5 update unique battle models were made for Wei Yan, Gan Ning, Dian Wei, Sima Yi, Cao Ren, Taishi Ci, Liu Bei, Huangfu Song, Yu Jin, Zang Ba, Wu Yi, Ji Ling, Ling Cao, Liu Pan, Jiang Wei, Xu Chu, Mu Shun, Lu Su, Xiahou Yuan, Lu Xun, Sun Ben, Chen Dao, Zhang Ren, Yue Jin, Zhang Wei, Wen Ping, Lü Dai, Fan Chou, Gao Shun, Liu Feng, Cao Hong, Luo Jun, Li Le, Yan Xing, Ma Dai, Guo Huai, Han Dang, Cai Mao, Gongsun Mo, Guo Si, Wu Anguo and Li Yan, while several other existing characters (Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Zhu Jun, and Zhang He) had their textures and models improved. Below you can see a small assortment of the new battle models featuring (from left to right) Liu Bei, Sun Ce, Xu Chu, Sima Yi, Wei Yan and Gan Ning.

Rise of Three Kingdoms v4.5 can be downloaded from our download page, with instructions on how to properly install, while the full changelong can be located here.

Happy gaming!

[Fahnat]

Amazing update, i wonder if you got inspired on my unofficial patch thread whend you added Xu Shao?

[Seether]

Amazing update, i wonder if you got inspired on my unofficial patch thread whend you added Xu Shao?

Thank you! I actually forgot about Xu Shao, although you did inspire me to bring in Zhuge Xuan

[Seether]

The RoTK v4.5.002 Patch has been released. There were two texture and two mesh files that didn't make it into the 4.5 Full Release. Specifically this affects Hebei Heavy Pikemen, Xiliang Cavalry, and a handful of commanders, and will cause a crash if they are used in battle. Best part is that the patch is save-game compatible, so you won't lose progress on your current campaign!

[Seether]

A teaser of what I've been working on for v4.6...

Missions for Lu Bu



New battle model for Gongsun Zan

[_TotalWar_]

Awesome RoTK is still being worked on! Simply amazing.

[Fahnat]

Always great to see you do more for the mod!

[Morrowgan]

Amazing dedication

[TomMills]

oooh looking forward to possible Lu Bu missions! He's one of my favourite factions to play

[Seether]

Greetings once again, everyone!

The new version 4.6 (Fengxian) Update adds quite a bit of new content to the mod, but the main component is the new mission system for Lü Bu's faction. In a series of 12 missions, the player can lead Lü Bu from his initial war for Yan province with Cao Cao all the way to uniting the war-torn nation of China. As with the other existing mission systems for the main factions, the player can also gain the services of exceptional characters, such as Xu Chu and Gan Ning, as a reward for completing each mission. Lü Bu's starting position is tough however, once his position is stabilized, he can become an unstoppable force that will overrun the seditious and rebellious warlords plaguing the country. Below you can see the first mission for Lü Bu, which sets the stage for his rise to ultimate power.

In addition to Lü Bu's new missions, another new script was created for Liu Bei. This new script allows for Liu Bei to invade and conquer Shu, but with specific prerequisites. The AI must control both the Liu Clan and Ba-Shu factions, the player cannot control Lü Bu's faction, the Ba-Shu faction must control the city of Chengdu, and the Liu Clan must be eliminated prior to the year 200. If all of those prerequisites are met, then several events will fire which start with rumors of Liu Bei's impending invasion and end with Liu Bei taking the Shu region. I figure it would be much more interesting for the player to face Liu Bei than Liu Zhang, as well as adding some bits of historical realism to the mod. Below you can see two of the events for this new script.

Another major aspect of this update was the improvement of several UI elements. One, which had not been updated since the mod was in Beta, was the unit-type banners you see on the battlefield. Previously all of the banners, regardless of unit type, looked pretty much the same. At a glance, it was impossible to tell what type of unit the banner belonged to, and so I wished to remedy that. Now there are distinct banners for all unit types (sword, spear, cavalry and missile), as well as generals and faction leaders. The banners will have the color scheme the owning faction and simple icon for the unit type, as well as different shapes, making it much easier to distinguish between unit types by using only the banners. Below you can see the new banners for spearmen (Sun Clan) and cavalry (Liu Clan).

One other thing I would like to mention, was to re-addition of a unique unit for the Yuan Clan: Yanyun Cavalry. So these guys were in the mod previously, as a shared unit between the Hebei region factions, but at some point they were made into a Yuan Clan exclusive unit. Unfortunately, and I only discovered this a few days ago, but they were somehow not included at the start of the campaign and therefore could never be used during the campaign. I fixed that and they are now fully usable by the Yuan Clan at the start of the campaign. Below you can see a pic of the Yanyun Cavalry beginning a downhill charge.

In addition to all of the things mentioned thus far, there was also an overhaul of both the Wudoumi Sect and Heishan icons - the former now has Taoist and Celestial Master symbols, while the latter says "Black Mountain" instead of the surname 'Zhang'. Captain portraits and cards were also overhauled, which now feature a face with the relevant faction banner in the background. The Wudoumi Sect has a new unique unit - the heavily armored shield and spear Zhanghan Guard - and a new low-tier pawn unit called Wudoumi Fanatics. The Yue faction also had their unique Wuyue Raiders replaced by the halberd-wielding 'Goujian's Chosen', while Gongsun Zan was given a new battle model and the unique Camp Raiders unit had their battle model overhauled. Finally there was more UI work with several cities given new images for their "Historic City" building, AI recruitment personalities were overhauled, and several characters had their traits tweaked and/or received new portraits.

The Version 4.6 (Fengxian) Update can be downloaded here. To install, run the .exe and point the installer at your Medieval II Total War folder.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must have the Rise of Three Kingdoms 4.5 Full Release installed prior to installing the RoTK v4.6 Update. Also, as usual, the patch is NOT save-game compatible (will break your save-games).

Happy gaming!

[TomMills]

Loving the Lu Bu missions already! Really fun and challenging start too haha. I know this is already jumping the gun maybe a little too much but I'm curious if you have any plans for other campaigns in the future? Obviously maybe not near future but just in general xD

[Fahnat]

Loving the Lu Bu missions already! Really fun and challenging start too haha. I know this is already jumping the gun maybe a little too much but I'm curious if you have any plans for other campaigns in the future? Obviously maybe not near future but just in general xD

That would be an interesting idea, but that would be a great amount of work to use this mods to do new campaigns.