Aevum Atrum Mod.

[Arbaces]

I am pleased to announce that the project Ages of Darkness is no longer dead, not even officially, and will be released under the official and final name Aevum Atrum, a beta is planned for this summer while the whole project will be completed in time through the following years with various releases during this period, because this mod looks like it will be forever, worked on.

Aevum Atrum (abbreviated AA, translated to Latin from Age of Darkness) is a project of modification for RTW's expansion, Barbarian Invasion, which is centered in the period known as the Dark Ages, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The player will be able to engage in gameplay under the banners of up to 20 different factions including major players of the period like Byzantines, Visigoths, Sassanids, Franks, but also with local growing powers such as the Gokturks in the east, the Bulgars, Connaught one of the last pagan kingdoms of Ireland and among many others, there will also be a Provincial Campaign focused on the Saracens and the rise of Islam, making the 20th and the only emerging faction, available. Among others the project's main aim is to create a completely historical environment which influences each faction to an unique gameplay and is influenced by player. Through traits, scripting and other techniques like formations, AA will also aim to prove that the RTW engine can support a challenging AI which also acts realistic.

I would like to thank Asterix and the TWC Staff for restoring the old AOD subforum .

These being said I think the most important has been brought up and you understood that you can still expect a lot from the Rome engine as modifications are still under development, and will still be, because it's fun in modding as much as it is in playing... I’m currently concerned with the map; the one I already made hasn’t reached my standards. So ignore the last preview please . And excuse me for not being able to render more into preview content for now .

Thank you,
Arbaces.

[Anarius]

First post, and I have never even seen the mod.. But good to see that a mod has been brought back from the dead, and I'm getting BI soon. Good luck.

[vikrant]

best of luck

[Dr. Acculla]

Sounds really cool! Im lookin forward to playing this best of luck man.

[makanyane]

Excellent news, I hadn't recognise the name, glad to see you back...
.. good luck.

[Ramon Gonzales y Garcia]

great to see you back

[Slaxx Hatmen]

great to see you back

Dido. Hope the Guptas will still make it in.:hmmm:

[Arbaces]

A self-praising round-up (aka Dev Diary) to keep the forums alive!

As some people might have noticed from the amount of work I did in this area my favourite modding section is mapping. I am, as I said at the second making of the map as the first map remake had the vanilla TGAs as a base (and was far from AA's quality standards). All the maps made for RTW have the vanilla skeleton except Aevum Atrum's, RTR7s and IceTorque's. So, mapping is for me the most enjoyable activity in RomeTw, a good map also makes a good strategic AI available. As you might presume mapping for my project also means an exacting research, each area was carefully researched and the name was chosen according to native sources in most of the cases, or other sources if native not available, where a region had no name the name the main tribe is chosen. I no longer used the colony system from the previous AOD map, as I find it realism lacking. Instead, where an area which needed a settlement did not had one available (matching the timeline as well), I've gone for a combination of native words and area's tribe name (such as EB does with most of their northern areas). The development of a settlement can be easily seen as a region's development, so this is what made me remove the unrealistic colony system for regions, which I used in the previous map. Moreover, secondary settlements may be part of the building system at the end (like in Metropolis for RTR). As you might have noticed, the map scale is around 2.5 times the vanilla, the main tech I used for generating it is from BDH's tutorial (10X M8!!), a little bit larger scale then RTR7s and a little bit smaller then WarMap's, yet accuracy is projected to be the best a RTW map ever had as well as map's general aesthetics, hence projected to be the map with the best quality ever made for RTW. By the way, here's what my booth has after a hard day's work. These are two random screenshots taken while checking the relief near the Baltic Sea and in the Scandinavia.

(28.01.2007)

Although I promised a FAQ with faction list, sorry, I definitely can't name the factions until I have the map done and some extra research, this is needed because some local growing powers might be more challenging then others. Recently found out that the Khazars seem to sound better then Gokturks for example.

@the celt: Sorry, India doesn't even make it in the map, there wasn't any important faction in the given period, the Guptas fell around the same period as Rome.

Also, thanks for your support guys.


Arbaces.

[Uranos]

Great to see you back!

[Narakir]

Good news indeed

[Antagonist]

Congratulations once again. Can't wait for updates.

Antagonist

[Ataegina]

one question, we can play and settle in whole skadinavia and iceland ??

[Arbaces]

A short update before starting the basic units-pick work.

Too bad the 1 week spring holiday will soon be over. Anyway it was a brilliant week!
For those who asked about factions, I'll let you guess them from the minimap of the current build which is below (no deep research applied so far to region ownership, just my general knowledge and the maps (so, Osrhoene goes to Byzantines)). I wasn't 100% decided on the factions yet, I even changed my mind myself about one today, so if you still have something important which only shows as rebels, I'm happy to read your arguments and research (Islam is not on the minimap so, no, I don't have a free slot).

I'd also like to announce a possible complementary project, a wiki. With Dark Age historical content, and to serve as a place for posting previews, exhibit features and bring other nice things within as well (ex. modding tutorials). I've applied here at Wikia, one of the best wiki hosting services, but I have to convice them it would be a good idea to have them host such a wiki. So, if you think it's a good idea don't hesitate to help me with it, either by (if you are registered at Wikia) adding {{support}} ~~~~ in the comments section of the request, either by adding a comment yourself, which doesn’t require registration, I suppose. It could also be a place for AAR's later, walkthroughs and as I said... other nice things.

In the end, two wallpaper wannabes with the former working name, I'm not yet decided whether I will use art or 3d for screens, but they'll be definitely better.

"The Last Roman Legion Flees"

And my personal favourite, "The Lone Drakonarius"!

Both from the same movie, if you guess this one too, you get a special Aevum Atrum cookie . Also, if you wish to see any particular area from the map just request it here and you'll get your curiosity satisfied.

Thanks ,
Arbaces.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Im stump on who the yellow faction is south of egypt. I england im assuming the blue faction in wales are the romano british or maybe the grey faction are the romano british. Personally I think the visigoths in spain and the franks are too big. Perhaps cut out 3 or 4 provinces each. Im not too positive on how united they may have been. So if the saxons arnt in england yet then they must be the blue faction in denmark. Otherwise they must be the danes or another viking tribe.

The franks and visigoths are prob too big now that I looked at it again, theres not much of a deterence to their expansion around them. I think the franks were mostly in belgium and normandy regions, while the rest of gaul was of other tribes.

I would love to see a single roman city left somewhere in the western mediterean, where the units are similar to the western empire. This would be fantasy of course but what if you could play that city and rebuild the western empire. Ideas of where that city could be are in sicily, corsica, sardinia, and maybe even a revolting city from ostrogothic control in central or southern italy. Also this addition could be added as a seperate provincial campaign option so that otherwise people could play the normal historical version in another provincial campaign.

EDIT: Another idea, what if you open another slot and put in a romano gaullic faction inbetween the franks and visigoths.

[Pompeius Magnus]

First of all thanx a lot that you are working again on your mod.
Better luck this time!!!

I am a mod tester in germany. My thread is on the internet homepage of germans biggest computer test magazine www.gamestar.de.
Here is my thread (in german of course)
http://www.gamestar.de/community/gsp...d.php?t=230941
in post 2 and 6 you will find your mod!

I observed your Ages of Darkness1 and it was a good mod. I was really a dark age for me when you said that the mod is dead.

I studied old/ancient history in Frankfurt/Main and wrote some important scripts for the late antique. I have a lot of proffesionel historical sources acc. the late roman army and also the very complex building of politics.

When you need some help acc. historicle background of the map, roman army, and so on I am your man.
Best regards

[Arbaces]

Alas! I thank you for your interest. My German is non-existent so I wonder what you’ve written there on the 2nd and 6th post Pompeius Magnus...

The yellow faction south of Egypt is the Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum. Thanks to their allegiance to Byzantium and later to the Arabs, they maintained their kingdom well from around 3rd century until 8th or even later. I wasn’t initially so sure of them but I think they deserve being in the game more then another Arab faction or Slavic. The Arab campaign will fill all your Arab needs when the game is finished. Yes, the blue faction in Wales is a Roman-influenced British faction, Gwynedd. As you can see, a though challenge for them to withstand the Saxons, the grey faction that invades from the East. Having lost their land in Danemark the Seaxe are replaced by the Geats or Danes, a faction which only yesterday came in my mind, and I’ve chosen to have them replace the Krivichi (a second Slavic faction which I had in mind). As I said I haven’t yet re-checked each of the regions for ownership. For the Visigoths and Franks there are very few doubts that may come, the Visigoths had not conquered the Suebii at the time the game begins (most probably 530), neither the Basques who were hardly ever conquered. The Frankish Realm can expand towards the Germanic kingdoms from the East (The Thuringi for example), as well as capture Burgundy. As you can see I’ve chosen to unite the three sons of Clovis, who had their separate kingdoms since they never actually fought each other and had common enemies. I think it was the wisest choice this way. Oh! And the Frankish Realm also includes Soissons so you need not to worry, the Frankish Army & Infrastructure as well as many other factions will be seriously Western-Roman influenced. The Franks will have more Latin influences the Byzantines, as the latter are closer to Greeks. Good luck in guessing the rest of the factions.

Pompeius I might need some info about the diplomatic background later. So if you would like to help me, I’m going to let you know when I need this. Also, I’m quite determined to start this Wiki project which, in my view would have a significant influence on the development of the game. I would need editors with studies like you said you have, editors who would bring more then the commonly-recognized Wikipaedia, through their articles they would of course enhance the development of the game’s environment. As, the main guidelines of developing it are realism and historical accuracy, making it something like Educative Entertainement. That’s why it’s a long term project, because you keep gathering knowledge.

Thanks,
Arbaces.

[Pompeius Magnus]

Alas! I thank you for your interest. My German is non-existent so I wonder what you’ve written there on the 2nd and 6th post Pompeius Magnus...

Pompeius I might need some info about the diplomatic background later. So if you would like to help me, I’m going to let you know when I need this. Also, I’m quite determined to start this Wiki project which, in my view would have a significant influence on the development of the game. I would need editors with studies like you said you have, editors who would bring more then the commonly-recognized Wikipaedia, through their articles they would of course enhance the development of the game’s environment. As, the main guidelines of developing it are realism and historical accuracy, making it something like Educative Entertainement. That’s why it’s a long term project, because you keep gathering knowledge.

Thanks,
Arbaces.

Servus from Germany,
as I said: If you need some help I will be your man!
It seems you have some interesting projects for the future. I will support that 100%!

By the way:
post2 is the content. Something like an introduction
post6 is the test of Ages of Darkness1

[MathiasOfAthens]

I found two maps that show the various empires and kingdoms in two different centuries.
The first map shows europe before 526
The second map is post Justinian europe or 600 ads
http://www.roman-emperors.org/big500.htm
http://www.roman-emperors.org/big600.htm


First map: The visigothic empire is holds the southwestern province and there are two other kingdoms in northern spain that compete with visigoths.
By 600 ad the visigoths conquer most of northern spain if not all.

The Vandals only held north eastern africa, the carthagian province. According to the map, other kingdoms in north africa were either Romanized or berber, mauratanian kingdoms.

Europe: Langobardi, burgundi, frisians, alemann, and the britons in brittany that were romanized and independent of the franks. There are prob more too.

By 600s the danes were still in scandinavia, only barely making headway into denmark. the saxons and the angles still held southern denmark.

I don't know what language the maps are in, could be greek or latin, byzantine latin/greek. Also the language changes in both maps, at first i noticed sea is spelled different, mare in 500 and mer in 600.

Purely speculative: The britons in brittany (northwestern france) have ablended color meaning they were completely independent and there may have been frequent wars between them and the franks for control of the region. However, when you look at the next map in 600ad your see that not only are the franks not completely united but they don't control brittany, either directly or indirectly, its some dumnone tribe that I never heard of.

North Africa: Prob more research could be done but if you look at the masun tribe on the far north western side of africa they control their ethnic territory, but by 600 after the expansion of the byzantines they had their own principality, which suggest that they may have assisted the Byzantines in their war with the vandals and the visigoths. If this is the case then they may have had a romanized army and structure.

Reason I bring this up is because I see the ethiopian faction as practically useless, no offence, if they were allied with the byzantines and there are no other factions around it, and they never in history expanded northward then what the point in playing as the askum empire. Id prefer the masu faction in north africa or another faction in europe from the list I offered you. But don't take this the wrong way, I still appreciate your work either way. Also if at this period in history the area that receive the most in armed conflicts was prob europe, western europe mostly.

[Agraes]

Purely speculative: The britons in brittany (northwestern france) have ablended color meaning they were completely independent and there may have been frequent wars between them and the franks for control of the region. However, when you look at the next map in 600ad your see that not only are the franks not completely united but they don't control brittany, either directly or indirectly, its some dumnone tribe that I never heard of.

Brittany was settled by Britons (hence its name) since the 4th century but circa 500-550 AD the migration was at his peak. 3 main kingdoms were created: Cornouailles, in the West, Bro-Erec in the South-East, and Domnonia in the North-East. This one originated from the insular kingdom of Dumnonia, or Dyfneint (modern Devon and Cornwall), from where came its princes. Actually, most of the Bretons came from the South West and the South of Wales. The counties of Rennes and Nantes were in frankish control till their conquest by Nominoé in the IXth century.

[Arbaces]

I'm proud to announce that in this week, although quite a busy one, I've put the foundation of the wiki project I mentioned above officially named AEVVM•ATRVM•VICIPÆDIA. From now, until the beginning of summer I won't continue with the same rhythm because the Mod comes first, as you surely know. I'm looking forward however, to having people helping me with this, after all the helping given with the wiki is help that goes to certain areas that influence AA directly: historical environment (diplomacy or any good historical info above wikipedia), faction-specific needs (names, unit lists/concept art), advertising (improving AAV in any possible way, helps AA in this matter).

You'd better go see for yourself, you'll notice that as soon as you register you'll find something to help with, the link of AA's official website and wiki is, for now.

http://editthis.info/AevumAtrum/Main_Page

Although in the future I might buy a domain.

As you will notice after browsing around, articles were already made to assist you with most of the Wiki-Editing work, and to give you ideas in order to help AA. Everybody who helps AAV expand, will be credited as part of the AAV team.

AEVVM•ATRVM•VICIPÆDIA will stand as a portal dedicated to the history of the timeline featured in AA, the Early Middle Ages, Dark Ages, Migration Period, Arthurian Age, or more precise 476 - 843. Of course, I will allow any historical period related article as long as it is good, and not a copy of Wikipedia, or as long as it promises to be good. You will also find, along with history contents, any type of article related to Total War, Total War Community, Aevum Atrum, Modding, 3ds Max... Nice project, huh? Then good luck in helping it realize!

Thank you!
Arbaces.