Hello all,
Since the release of version 5.0 on the fourth of october, the following has been done:
1. Peaman has implemented SGI's map to Game of Thrones Enhanced. He sent me this version of the mod yesterday during the night.
2. A new map means all the stuff in it will need to be re-implemented to the descr_strat, such as the alliances, the buildings, the starting units, the starting family members/generals, the playable factions, the starting attributes of each family member etc. The map is pretty much just a map otherwise.
3. Peaman did add all the buildings, and the rest he left for me to do.
4. I've spent two days and nights now (not counting the time i've been sleeping) working on getting the mod back to a playable state. Files needing work were the descr_strat, the descr_regions (all the hidden resources connected to the recruitment, the settlement loyalties deciding what rebels will spawn when a city revolts, the rebel entries under each settlement, the descr_win_conditions etc -it all had to be re-worked to the same state as the old version. I'm not finished with everything but there were quite the ammount of work needing to be done just to get the mod to a playable state like in the old version.
5. Fortunately enough the BMDB, the EDU, the EDB, the descr_script-file, the descr_rebel_factions-file etc are already done since before. So the rebels and units are all ready, i just need to put them back on the map and of course place out all the hidden resources instructing the game to make units recruitable from certain places only.
6. The fact that we replaced the old map has solved the old CTD-issue with needing to play a battle before starting the campaign. This issue is gone. I haven't fought any battles in the campaign yet so i don't know how stable the mod is during the battles - or after battles.
7. I've managed to re-add all the factions seen in the released version with all their old family members etc. It didn't work to simply copy the entries, as i needed to add new coordinates for the new map - or it would not start. I've also added more family members after looking at many different Game of Thrones-mods. So House Stark has more starting generals now. I'm going to continue with adding more to the others as well.
8. The Nights Watch has been properly implemented to the mod in the campaign. The recruitment isn't done yet but they do have all theri starting areas, their family members/generals and their alliances. The goals haven't been added yet for any faction.
9. I've added House Targaryen, the Wildlings and the Nights Watch to the selection screen of the campaign and fixed their UI. I still need to implement the Wildlings and House Targaryen to the actual map. I did also update the "special unit pictures" with the House words, just like Peaman did in Fire and Blood.
GoT Enhanced will be different in the sense it is only set in WoFK- and using different scripts/features unless Peaman decides to use them as well.
The mod crashed at various stages as the AI - like on turn 59, 79 etc but would play long after each restart. After i changed some ownerships in the descr_regions-file to make Stannis have cities loyal to him instead of to the Night's watch faction, and the Nights Watch have their castle's and towns loyal to them, and not House Stark - the game got more stable!
Maybe it's luck? But it is still going and hasn't crashed.. I've been letting the AI play for probably two hours or something. The turns are extremely fast due to no faction being able to recruit anything but ships and mercenaries. The starting armies are there but nothing is recruitable after from the main rosters. The regions all have Westerland rebels currently. I do hope the mod will stay as stable as it is now even after adding the rest of the recruitment, the rebels- and the victory conditions. It's on turn 2000 soon.
I do plan to add House Targaryen and the Wildings to the campaign, and the Wildlings will get Mammoths and Giants as well. I still haven't decided from where? The Warcraft Mammoths doesn't look right, the BotET ones would be perfect (used in the German mod as well) but i don't have permission -no one has permission to use those. There are also the ones in "A Song of Ice and Fire" but they are more like elephants with a new skin. Hm, Elder Scrolls also have Mammoths that do look better than the ones in Warcraft etc. We'll see what i will use in the end. The Giants too is a big questionmark.
Then i want to add "The Others" to the mod with the same units as in Fire and Blood". Possibly the "Free Cities of Braavos" as Daenarys will need an enemy in Essos before reaching Westeros. All of the "Free Cities" are in the mod, as well as the Dothraki capital (where Dany will start). Dany is going to have large forces from the start as they will lack settlements compared to the Free Cities. The Others will replace the Dothraki faction for the Mongols-slot. They will be able to spawn during the late campaign. I do also intend to make Aegon a possible spawning faction using the unused Timurid slot.
But we'll see about all of this. All i can say right now is that i'm not finished yet with making it fully playable, but the mod seems to go on forever without a CTD on the campaign map at least. As of writing this it's now on turn 2161.
Btw, there are textures from 2017 that will enable me to add the rest of the planed minor house units for the old factions as well.
VltimaRatio didn't send me his new models from this summer, but he told me he were working on a AopK version of his own.