[RELEASED] ACW 2.0 American Civil War for Napoleon Total War

[Slyk]

Found a bug! Although I think this happened every once in a while in vanilla Napoleon. After abandoning their guns, a Union 6-gun Ordnance battery crew instantaneously manufactured invisible guns and fired canister into my ranks. Perhaps they stole one of my killstreak care packages during the retreat.

Sadly, an original Vanilla bug. I hate when that happens. I also wish I could code it so that the teams don't run off if interaction with infantry happens. But I suppose that is the penalty for allowing your guns to be charged in the first place. Some things would be so much better with a little more control from a modder perspective.

On another note, the artillery is much more deadly and frightening! I was wincing for my troops hearing the shells come in and explode! This is definitely going to demand more strategic tactics and positioning.

Edit: I do not have any other mods nor have made any changes to any mod files.

Yes, more scary than damaging at times. Although artillery is more effective than the prior v1.0. However, still more noise than effect....but if they do hit you.... then you know it. I struggled with the artillery tables; spending hours tweaking and testing. I'm mostly happy with it as is for 2.0 but I am open to tweaks. The factors that have to be considered are: this is still a game, in a confined space and scale and time frame. If certain factors were able to be accessed to edit, like the ammo limits, ranges over 1,000 meters, etc. Then we could do a lot more. If you could make your infantry lie down, big cover advantage against all projectiles... things that you as the player cannot control. Woods and back-side slopes are the best defense. Period. Other than staying out of the line of fire.

Bottom line... if you are going to stand in the open against a battery, you are going to suffer. And as I have said before about this mod, if you are going to "Go", "FREAKING GO!". Appreciate your input. Keep it up.

[GoodManBadSerf]

I've loved it so far! Starting positions for some the scenarios are a bit off, but it doesn't really chafe me that much. Just wish the AI would stop charging their batteries at me, and just deploy them responsibly.

[nordherogaming]

Wow, excellent mod. My productivity in life just went out the window; lol just kidding about the productivity part. I was hoping to see my one of my ancestor's regiments at Champion Hill, since his regiment fought at that battle, but the 23rd MS Infantry was nowhere to be found. I found the 22nd MS infantry, which after looking it up, they weren't involved with the battle of Champion Hill. So I would assume it was a typo, and should be the 23rd? Too small an issue to release a patch over for, but would be nice if was included in an update. Regardless, I found another ancestor's regiment, the 49th IN Infantry! That got me excited. In the future, if Kennesaw Mountain, Resaca, or Knoxville are released, then that will be the best personally for me since my favorite ancestor who I have a photograph of, fought in those battles as a captain in the 5th Indiana cavalry. And unlike the 23rd or 49th, the 5th were bad ass, they burnt down Celina, TN, marched with Sherman, were the first ones to enter Knoxville TN after its capture, and were personally commanded by Stoneman, before they surrendered along with him while holding out the rebs long enough for the main body to retreat.

[Slyk]

I've loved it so far! Starting positions for some the scenarios are a bit off, but it doesn't really chafe me that much. Just wish the AI would stop charging their batteries at me, and just deploy them responsibly.

Starting positions: Which ones, specifically? Custom battles? Which maps? Scenarios? Depending on what you are referring to determines my answer. For scenarios, yes, some may be other than you think or would choose but I can't time entry of units so they are nearest to where they would have entered OR are placed based on spacing, generally. A couple custom maps have some adjusted locations to get the maps played in a more historical line than just East-West/North-South orientations.

Artillery and Generals.... "UGH". If only the core code was accessible or someone could tell me what to do to stop them from charging or deploying too close. I'm at a loss with these and share the frustration.

[Slyk]

Wow, excellent mod. My productivity in life just went out the window; lol just kidding about the productivity part. I was hoping to see my one of my ancestor's regiments at Champion Hill, since his regiment fought at that battle, but the 23rd MS Infantry was nowhere to be found. I found the 22nd MS infantry, which after looking it up, they weren't involved with the battle of Champion Hill. So I would assume it was a typo, and should be the 23rd? Too small an issue to release a patch over for, but would be nice if was included in an update. Regardless, I found another ancestor's regiment, the 49th IN Infantry! That got me excited. In the future, if Kennesaw Mountain, Resaca, or Knoxville are released, then that will be the best personally for me since my favorite ancestor who I have a photograph of, fought in those battles as a captain in the 5th Indiana cavalry. And unlike the 23rd or 49th, the 5th were bad ass, they burnt down Celina, TN, marched with Sherman, were the first ones to enter Knoxville TN after its capture, and were personally commanded by Stoneman, before they surrendered along with him while holding out the rebs long enough for the main body to retreat.

Thanks! So.... as with most scenarios, I had to choose which units are in or out. I am constrained by the map boundaries of 2.5km x 2.5km and I try not to down-scale the maps more than 75%. So some units get left out... some of III Corps on "Round Tops", for instance that should be to the right of the Peach Orchard... or in your example, the 23rd Miss. which was not in the battle area depicted, according to the source information I had available. Not every unit of the Union force at Champion Hill is in either. My position map came from the Civil War Trust site. Granted, some of their stuff is 'off' but it's the best I could find. The 22nd is certainly "in" the combat area, Featherston's Brigade, your 23rd was just off the battle map area from what I depicted. Most of my source data for units/OOB was either Wiki pages or John Tiller's games or his community, in the case of Champion Hill. So, based on the material I had for reference, the "battle area" and units are correct.

I hope to do a few Atlanta campaign maps and maybe one or two more Vicksburg campaign maps as well, providing the source maps and OOB's are usable.

Thanks for the input!

[Kesto11]

I defended Malvern Hill a couple nights ago. The CSA troops oddly sent probably half a division of troops straight down the Union extreme right flank/border of the map. It was easy pickins' for a bit before they rushed in with the bayonet. I halted and rebuffed the strange attack, shifted some reinforcements to that flank. During this time I was thinking, "Oh crap, the AI has no idea what it is doing in this whole scenario."

But then the hellstorm came. Brigade after brigade poured out from the woods all along my fishhook defense. The first line of troops held strong against the first couple waves, but then was overcome by sheer numbers as the Rebs dislodged regiment after regiment in my first line of defense. I brought up reserves to try to plug the holes and reclaim the trenches temporarily, but ended up pulling my troops back to avoid their destruction. Just as this chaos was unfolding, the boys in gray pressed hard against my extreme left flank, sending troops across the river to try to get behind my boys. The AI definitely sensed this weakness and sought to exploit it, but I did have a couple fresh brigades in reserve that I sent meandering on over as I bought time with the cliff choke-point.

Eventually, the ferocious advance of the Confederates overcame a couple of my batteries in the second line of defense, but at great cost as canister sent many a young pixelated lad to their deaths. My right flank held strong and rolled up the line while my center and left held. At the end of the day, most of my army was in tact, but with heavy losses throughout. What a battle! It is quite challenging managing so many units and batteries! I will definitely play this one more in the future and better position my artillery (I may or may not have had significant friendly fire .

Incredible scenario! The amount of units on the field is ridiculous! What was it, 15? 20? batteries of arty for the Union alone? Oh yes, my CPU had its workout. It was like playing in clunky slow-mo until troops starting dying! Loved every second of it!

[Sidatarias]

Edit: oops sorry. Replied to the wrong thread. Pls delete post :p

[Slyk]

I defended Malvern Hill a couple nights ago. The CSA troops oddly sent probably half a division of troops straight down the Union extreme right flank/border of the map. It was easy pickins' for a bit before they rushed in with the bayonet. I halted and rebuffed the strange attack, shifted some reinforcements to that flank. During this time I was thinking, "Oh crap, the AI has no idea what it is doing in this whole scenario."

Awesome to hear that. But, just so you know... there are at least one if not arguably three Confederate brigades that 'could' be included ;P Same argument for more Union troops but I went with the current build as a fair attempt. I know from my play testing how frantic it becomes and have had times early on in test builds where the center and right were on more or less the 3rd line. Beaver Dam Creek and Gaines Mill are tough as well. You will be very busy trying to hold back the Gray Hordes.

[GoodManBadSerf]

Starting positions: Which ones, specifically? Custom battles? Which maps? Scenarios? Depending on what you are referring to determines my answer. For scenarios, yes, some may be other than you think or would choose but I can't time entry of units so they are nearest to where they would have entered OR are placed based on spacing, generally. A couple custom maps have some adjusted locations to get the maps played in a more historical line than just East-West/North-South orientations.

Artillery and Generals.... "UGH". If only the core code was accessible or someone could tell me what to do to stop them from charging or deploying too close. I'm at a loss with these and share the frustration.

Yeah, I know none of it's your fault. As far as the starting positions, I figured if things were a tiny bit off, it was probably due to limitations from the base game. Again, it doesn't really effect my enjoyment of the mod. Unfortunately, the engine issues and the inability of modders to address the deeper issues with NTW itself (thanks again, CA) is what ruins pretty much any mod for me. It's tragic because I know it's got nothing to do with you, and if they'd just open things up a bit more, guys like you could really make something amazing! The inability to move in road column (or anything other than line or some weird clump), addressing the AI's tendency to go brain-dead with artillery (and a whole host of other things), and affording friendly units some logical discretion when it comes to firing into their own men are just a few of the things that ruin the experience for me. I'd love to be able to leave other wings of an army for friendly AI to control, but they tend to either bunch up in a confused mess in and around either my men, or send a similarly confused mess towards the enemy (if they don't just move to the edges of the map and do nothing, which I've also seen happen).


Again, I know it's nothing to do with your mod, which is amazing, by the way. The look and feel of the units are well done, and the maps are stellar. It's simply crippled by CA's infamously bad AI and strange design choices.


One very small quarrel, though. The 3rd Arkansas should be at least a B grade infantry regt. There's a reason they ended up in the Texas Brigade.

[Slyk]

One very small quarrel, though. The 3rd Arkansas should be at least a B grade infantry regt. There's a reason they ended up in the Texas Brigade.

Thanks for the compliments. It's been a project of love...or obsession, depending on who you ask. As for unit qualities, harass John Tiller I used the data files from his "Battleground" series to do the unit values. Everyone is normalized on his information. Some scenarios I used other sources that were based on his games but done by community people so as far as I can ascertain, the units are treated equally. I was also surprised at some unit values as they were lower than I would have guessed.

[GoodManBadSerf]

Thanks for the compliments. It's been a project of love...or obsession, depending on who you ask. As for unit qualities, harass John Tiller I used the data files from his "Battleground" series to do the unit values. Everyone is normalized on his information. Some scenarios I used other sources that were based on his games but done by community people so as far as I can ascertain, the units are treated equally. I was also surprised at some unit values as they were lower than I would have guessed.

It's a very small thing anyhow, and thank you for your response. I just think the 3rd Arkansas was one of the great storied units that is overshadowed by the likes of the Texans and Tigers, even though they were of the same stock (so to speak). They're performance was always highly praised, and became a part of Lee's "vanguard", along with the Texans. It's a knit-picky, petty thing to complain about though, I know. Great mod, man! It's the only reason I still play NTW!

[Slyk]

I think we can make a case for many units but at least with them bring normalized across the data base, everyone is theoretically even. I just finished "Snodgrass Hill" and am half way on Missionary Ridge maps. No scenarios yet, but I usually do those after the maps are complete. 2.1 will have some nice additions.

[jar_are_red]

I just fought the greatest battle of my total war history. The map was Champion Hill (2v2) and the Union had battered us, but somehow we won. There were only 6 surviving units for the CSA with all less than 100 men, most with less than 60. It had to have been >90% casualties. I was so surprised the game hadn't crashed. As the game ended I clicked save replay...game crash. I am beyond angry, but in a laughable way. I know it isn't your fault because the battle ran great. But man there had to have been 5,000+ dead in this one area where basically the entire battle went down. The battle even stretched basically the length of the map. Bodies everywhere. It lasted 1.5 hours. It was amazing, I don't even know how we won, but we did. The 54th AL is the G.O.A.T. But thanks for this mod man, it really brings everything to life to watch all these little guys fight it out whether it be a small skirmish with another regiment on an unimportant hill way away from the main battle, or in a decisive charge with thousands of others at enemy lines. Makes it feel so immersive.

[Slyk]

Great to hear, Jar! I really like that map for a lot of reasons. The entire line along the ridge road and the crossroads seems to be the most bloody area every time. We had some great 2v2 custom battles on that map during the development phase. The scenario definitely ups the tension though. You have to be calm, crafty and always have a reserve to survive, especially as the CSA. Thanks for the comment and hope you have some more great battles!

As to the replay save related crash, I don't/never had that but one of the guys I play with had that set in and no matter how big or small the battle, he can't save anything. He's got a new gaming laptop now so I'll get him to try again. I'm not sure if it relates to system memory or what... very odd stuff.

[jar_are_red]

I am not too familiar with NTW's engine, but I don't know if this was a problem just with my system or the map itself, but I played Fredericksburg and the units didn't emit smoke. Possible bug?Also like the Champion Hill battle, this one was awesome. It literally lasted 2 hours with 18,626 casualties of the 25,006 deployed. Epic.

[Slyk]

Jar, I don't think that's the mod or it would occur every time. It's not the map either as there are no settings for that. The weather might change that somewhat but would not eliminate the smoke level.

With these high casualty rates.... are your units rallying frequently, are you using the generals liberally to keep morale up, etc? Just curious how that's working out. So many factors go into the morale system so I assume you guys are keeping formations, supporting your lines and keeping generals nearby.

[GoodManBadSerf]

Hey, Slyk! Just wanted to thank you again for a great mod! Not criticisms this time, just the praise you deserve for the obvious long hours and passion you've put into this, and into all of your mods. I too have had some great moments (Champion Hill definitely being one of them, the first phase of Antietam being another). I can't help but imagine what guys like you would be capable of making of time and money were no object, and you had access to a good team. If I were made of money, I'd throw a hefty chunk at you just to see what kind of Civil War based TW-style game you could come up with from the ground up. If the guys at Creative Assembly knew what was good for them, they'd be investing in guys like you to take them to the next level, and stop rehashing old themes and relying on the same old battle formulas. I could see someone like you really making a great strategy map, and an equally accurate and amazing battle phase. Maybe we'll get to see it one day?!?

[Slyk]

Thank you for the kind words. If only CA would just give up a bit more on coding/compiling etc. and tools or at least background information to confirm some things. If I had the money, I would be making "THE" game. Hell, if CA would open up the campaign map, I would put in the year or two and build a massive campaign game. And as far as future stuff.... there is the "Unity" engine and it does seem to support a ummm.... "similar" potential ..... ;p

[NextToYou]

Hello, first of all: nice mod, good job on the 2.0, I love it but there is one huge downside for me: the bullet tracers... is there any way to get rid of them cause they are so annoying, it really takes away the immersion for me

[Slyk]

They'll be removed in v2.1 which should be out in April, if I get things done as I hope. More maps and scenarios as well.

Currently, you'd need to add an .fx file to your mod as a standalone file. Put the following in a file called "projectiletrail.fx" Then you need to make a mod pack file or add it one you use/have used before. If you want to do something locally.... add this to your acw_data.pack file. OR make a copy of the acw_data and save it so that you can play online with others. You'll need packfilemager to add this file. I recommend version 1.5.9

You need to make a new file, name it "projectiletrail.fx" and place it in a folder called "fx" in your game /data directory then you can 'add' it to the acw_data pack or make a new pack file but then you'll have to edit your user_script file as well.

Here's your file content (taken from the NTW3 mod):


#include "FXConfig.h"

#include "Camera.fx_fragment"
#include "ScreenEffects.fx_fragment"
#include "fog.fx_fragment"

struct VS_INPUT
{
float4 position : POSITION;
float3 tangent : NORMAL;
float4 colour : COLOR0;
float width : TEXCOORD0;
float t : TEXCOORD1;
float u : TEXCOORD2;
float min_apparent_width_distance : TEXCOORD3;
float fade_out_distance : TEXCOORD4;
float cross_fade_start_distance : TEXCOORD5;
float cross_fade_range : TEXCOORD6;
};

struct VS_OUTPUT
{
float4 position : POSITION;
float4 colour : COLOR;
float u : TEXCOORD0;
float fade_out_distance : TEXCOORD1;
float distance : TEXCOORD2;
float t : TEXCOORD3;
float4 proj_pos : TEXCOORD4;
float cross_fade_start_distance : TEXCOORD5;
float cross_fade_range : TEXCOORD6;
};


DECLARE_TEXTURE(normal_map);
const bool render_normal_map;

VS_OUTPUT render_vertex(const VS_INPUT v)
{
VS_OUTPUT r;

float3 to_camera = camera_position - v.position;

float3 normal = normalize(cross(to_camera, v.tangent));

float4 position = v.position;

float distance = length(to_camera);

float width = v.width;

float apparent_width = width / min(distance, v.min_apparent_width_distance);

width = apparent_width * distance;

width *= 0.3f - v.t;

position.xyz += normal * (width * 0.5f) * v.u;

r.proj_pos = r.position = mul(position, view_projection);
r.colour.rgb = v.colour.rgb;

r.colour.a = lerp(v.colour.a, 0.0f, v.t);

r.u = v.u;
r.t = v.t;

r.fade_out_distance = v.fade_out_distance;
r.distance = distance;
r.cross_fade_start_distance = v.cross_fade_start_distance;
r.cross_fade_range = v.cross_fade_range;

return r;
}

float4 render_pixel(VS_OUTPUT v) : COLOR
{
float dist_fade_out = v.fade_out_distance / v.distance;
dist_fade_out = clamp( dist_fade_out, 0.0f, 1.0f );

float width_fade_out = 0.6 - abs( v.u );

float4 colour = v.colour;

float cross_fade_t = saturate((v.distance - v.cross_fade_start_distance) / v.cross_fade_range);

if(render_normal_map)
{
float4 nn = tex2D(s_normal_map, v.proj_pos.xy/30 - float2(0, time_in_sec*0.05f));//float2(v.u/40, v.t*1 - time_in_sec*0.05f));
colour.rgb = nn.rgb;
cross_fade_t = 1.0f - cross_fade_t;
}

colour.a *= width_fade_out * dist_fade_out * cross_fade_t;

return hdr_encode(colour);
}

technique projectile_alpha_sm2
{
pass p0
{
VertexShader = compile vs_2_0 render_vertex();
PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 render_pixel();

ZWRITEENABLE = false;
ALPHABLENDENABLE = TRUE;
SRCBLEND = SRCALPHA;
DESTBLEND = INVSRCALPHA;
}
}

technique projectile_add_sm2
{
pass p0
{
VertexShader = compile vs_2_0 render_vertex();
PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 render_pixel();

ZWRITEENABLE = false;
ALPHABLENDENABLE = TRUE;
SRCBLEND = SRCALPHA;
DESTBLEND = ONE;
}
}

technique projectile_subtract_sm2
{
pass p0
{
VertexShader = compile vs_2_0 render_vertex();
PixelShader = compile ps_2_0 render_pixel();

ZWRITEENABLE = false;
ALPHABLENDENABLE = TRUE;
BLENDOP = REVSUBTRACT;
SRCBLEND = SRCALPHA;
DESTBLEND = ONE;
}
}