Total War Rome: Remastered

[Crociato78]

I think currently it's a similar level of difficulty as porting RTW mod to M2, e.g. you can do it, you'll have a better appearance and more features when you've done it, but it will take a while...
(and you will need a mesh model and textures for the campaign map, wilddog's working on doing that through IWTE atm, but we're not releasing that feature of IWTE until it's improved/finalised)


I think the only one changed so far is factions from 21 to 31 - but they've said on the official TW discord that they're working on raising other limits.

A little disappointed with the limits.


31 factions is not bad even if Feral was thought to eliminate his limitations or increase him a lot.

[Crociato78]

Hello everyone!


Do you by any chance know where are the textures of the different faces (with and without beard etc ...) of each unit?


It seems that the textures of the unit models have only one face!

[EmperorJulian]

So, I've been dabbling in Remastered and so far I'm having fun. I've been trying out the Ostrogoths and seeing what kind of strategies will work on Hard/Hard; I never played B.I. much in the day and this is a good opportunity to try factions (like the Romano-British) that weren't even available without significant modding back then.

That said, can someone explain to me why people hate the UI so much? I mean, I know people hate it with an undying passion, this is made clear. But no one is really going into detail as to what is actually wrong with it, apart from it being different. Look, I'm familiar with how the game looked back in the early 2000s, I'd like to have the same interface just for the sake of continuity. This doesn't mean the new UI is genuinely terrible though -I don't see the issue. Other than, I will point out, the old artwork is now too small to appreciate on screen; it's a small thing, but I rather miss being able to gander at those dated, but still awesome images of adoptions, buildings and so forth.

Anyway, I don't think I've posted here for years; interesting coming back.

Also I just noticed i joined this forum almost seventeen years ago. Has it really been that long?

[EgyptianNecrophiliac]

So, I've been dabbling in Remastered and so far I'm having fun. I've been trying out the Ostrogoths and seeing what kind of strategies will work on Hard/Hard; I never played B.I. much in the day and this is a good opportunity to try factions (like the Romano-British) that weren't even available without significant modding back then.

That said, can someone explain to me why people hate the UI so much? I mean, I know people hate it with an undying passion, this is made clear. But no one is really going into detail as to what is actually wrong with it, apart from it being different. Look, I'm familiar with how the game looked back in the early 2000s, I'd like to have the same interface just for the sake of continuity. This doesn't mean the new UI is genuinely terrible though -I don't see the issue. Other than, I will point out, the old artwork is now too small to appreciate on screen; it's a small thing, but I rather miss being able to gander at those dated, but still awesome images of adoptions, buildings and so forth.

Anyway, I don't think I've posted here for years; interesting coming back.

Also I just noticed i joined this forum almost seventeen years ago. Has it really been that long?

It's too small, both in terms of text/icon size and not using enough screen space. It hides info. It requires too many clicks to do what you want. And I don't like having everything appearing on the same canvas so to speak - let me try to explain. In the original, you could doubleclick a town and get the screen up, filling *most* (not all) of the screen. Now, managing a town doesn't take you away from the world map. Likewise with news/diplomatic announcements etc. It's good to have some scene changes in terms of how the game feels to play.

To be totally specific: It's annoying how I only see the buildings when I click on a town. I want to see the military units immediately without having to click again. And I want to see available buildings to construct when on the building view instead of having to click again, and to see recruitable military units when the military view is active without having to click again. They're trying to keep everything too clean and minimalistic, showing as much of the world map as possible at all times. It's over-designed. There was no need to fix what wasn't broken (original RTW UI).

[Lord Baal]

They explicitly said they were raising several of the limits? Has anyone attempted to test this of yet or it simply might be too soon.

[Ballacraine]

I'm looking forward to finding out how the baseline vanilla version checks out.

[makanyane]

They explicitly said they were raising several of the limits? Has anyone attempted to test this of yet or it simply might be too soon.

I think it's too soon - Feral seem to be using the Sega/CA 'official' Total War discord for announcements - this is the post from there just after release;

Modding & Rome Remastered
======================
When planning the Remaster, modding has been an ever-present consideration. All the changes and improvements for the Remaster have been carefully designed so as not to impede the game’s moddability.

Initial Release

The initial release is focused on making sure the main game is polished and fun to play. However, the core features for modding are also in place, including:

Workshop support
UI to submit and update mods from the game
Mod conflict warnings
Support for mods in Multiplayer
Support for the original -show_err and -ai modding commands

Post-Release

Post-release modding support will continue in a number of ways:

Where feasible the previous engine limits will be relaxed to allow for more complex mods.
Fixing issues that are reported as modders start to use the system.
Some of the tools used to pack models, audio etc will be made available to the wider modding community.

Post-Release Modding Updates

To ensure updates to expanded modding limits and other modding-related changes do not negatively affect the game, they will first be released on a beta branch to allow modders to test the feature and report any issues. Once fixes are confirmed as working and stable they will be merged into the next release of the game.

Modding - Engine Limits
=================
Raising the limits can be complex to implement, and require significant code changes.

As per the earlier AMA, the limits on Factions and Regions will be raised. Below is a list of the most popular requests and the current plans for them.

These features will initially be introduced in beta releases designed for modders. And will be included in official updates once they are confirmed as functioning properly.

We have been working on these limitations and have already made significant progress on both these items:

Factions
Original:21
Remastered:31

Faction limits will be increased from 21 to 31 factions. This matches the maximum number of factions that Medieval 2 supported and is the limit of the existing game engine. This change affects a number of areas of the game engine and so will need extensive testing.

Regions
Original:200
Remastered:TBD*

The region limits will be increased from 200. The exact increase is not yet confirmed, but will be substantial.

Other Limits
There are a number of other limits that have been highlighted by the community. These will be reviewed individually and increased where practical. Some of the most requested are:

Unit Entries (EDU)
Model Entries (DMB)
Buildings (EDB)
Mounts
Religions
Cultures

Modding Tools
===========
Post release more details on updated formats, packing & unpacking tools will be provided, along with scripts to enable modders to make new content.

Modding - Example Mods
==================
At launch there will be a number of example mods available in the Steam Workshop. These are simple mods that show how to override or update small parts of the game menus, videos or faction logic and are intended to demonstrate how the new modding format works.

Anyone who has experience with the original game modding will find the format familiar. However, certain details might have been updated or expanded, so mods will need to be modified to support the updated file formats.

Modding Community
===============
Prior to release Feral has worked with modders, who have created some of the most popular Rome mods, to get feedback and allow them to test the functionality of the Remaster.

We are happy to say that a number of alpha releases from these modders will be available in the Steam Workshop tomorrow. Thank you to all of them for their enthusiastic support and some impressively fast turnarounds.
Edwin (Feral)
—
04/29/2021

Beta Access
========
Access to builds with new modding features will be restricted to a small team initially. Once a build is confirmed to work as expected, it will be made available as an opt-in beta for community feedback prior to releasing it as an official patch.

Post Release Questions
================
We are sure that there will be more questions once the entire modding community gets access to the Remaster, so we will be regularly checking the official discord as well as the wider community. We will also provide more updates in the coming months as and when patches are released.

(I had thought the 31 faction limit was in, but re-reading that, I think it's just confirmed that it will change to that... I've not tested it yet)

[Zarax]

IMHO it's realistic to see a 255 region limit, which is going to be just enough to stretch mods to include India...

[alhoon]

I think the only one changed so far is factions from 21 to 31 - but they've said on the official TW discord that they're working on raising other limits.

That's ... both good news and not good news.
On one hand, good for them to work on this issue.
On the other hand... how hard was it to guess that modders would like relaxed limits?! + Is this another R2TW "and we will be tweaking it and changing it for 5 years, break mods 3-4 times per year" situation?

[balparmak]

This goes over the UI debacle pretty nicely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP9dCfAEBNg

To sum: It poorly uses screen space, requires unnecessary clicks, inconsistent (esp. fonts), at times pretty ugly. The sad fact I realized after watching Feral's iPad port is that Remastered is not a remaster of the original, it's a port of an iOS game, with better textures. That's all.

So, I've been dabbling in Remastered and so far I'm having fun. I've been trying out the Ostrogoths and seeing what kind of strategies will work on Hard/Hard; I never played B.I. much in the day and this is a good opportunity to try factions (like the Romano-British) that weren't even available without significant modding back then.

That said, can someone explain to me why people hate the UI so much? I mean, I know people hate it with an undying passion, this is made clear. But no one is really going into detail as to what is actually wrong with it, apart from it being different. Look, I'm familiar with how the game looked back in the early 2000s, I'd like to have the same interface just for the sake of continuity. This doesn't mean the new UI is genuinely terrible though -I don't see the issue. Other than, I will point out, the old artwork is now too small to appreciate on screen; it's a small thing, but I rather miss being able to gander at those dated, but still awesome images of adoptions, buildings and so forth.

Anyway, I don't think I've posted here for years; interesting coming back.

Also I just noticed i joined this forum almost seventeen years ago. Has it really been that long?

[Zarax]

I have a few major usability issues with it:

1) no more drag & drop. Transferring ancillaries requires to use the new system, which is good when you might want to do that among far away FMs, but the most common is when they are in the same place and in exponentially increased the number of clicks requires

2) Window position is fixed and you cannot scroll the map with some event windows: easy to spot, try conquering a settlement. It's a major issue because the occupy/enslave/exterminate choice is usually driven by the newly conquered city happiness, there is no way to determine that now

3) Window menus can overlap: this is introduces a huge level of clutter, decreasing readability and making use the interface a chore

4) They changed the old hotkey system: a major muscle memory issue, especially as the old commands do different things. I still have to figure out how to rotate units in place in battle for example...

[Ballacraine]

I have to say I despite the issues mentioned, I am already really enjoying this release a lot more than I ever did Rome 2.
It seems to be a very good starting point.

[Basileos Leandros I]

That said, can someone explain to me why people hate the UI so much? I mean, I know people hate it with an undying passion, this is made clear. But no one is really going into detail as to what is actually wrong with it, apart from it being different. Look, I'm familiar with how the game looked back in the early 2000s, I'd like to have the same interface just for the sake of continuity. This doesn't mean the new UI is genuinely terrible though -I don't see the issue. Other than, I will point out, the old artwork is now too small to appreciate on screen; it's a small thing, but I rather miss being able to gander at those dated, but still awesome images of adoptions, buildings and so forth.

In my view, it's the mobile style UI that is simply unappealing to most PC gamers. We understand that this works well on mobile because hey - it's a small screen - but on large monitors it just looks cartoonish and it takes out the entire historical immersion out of it.

Also, seeing from the feedback here - it's also a matter of making them unwieldy and not working as well as the original in terms of selecting things and getting information easily.

[EmperorJulian]

In my view, it's the mobile style UI that is simply unappealing to most PC gamers. We understand that this works well on mobile because hey - it's a small screen - but on large monitors it just looks cartoonish and it takes out the entire historical immersion out of it.

Also, seeing from the feedback here - it's also a matter of making them unwieldy and not working as well as the original in terms of selecting things and getting information easily.

I guess, in my case, I really don't know or appreciate the differences between PC and Mobile UI implementations in the first place. I do not now, nor have I ever played games on a smart phone or other mobile device. This probably means that I'm missing some context about which others seem to be keenly aware - though I still don't hate the current version, in either case.

[Lord Baal]

The limits issue is bothersome. They really did not increased nothing yet, they used or recreated the Medieval 2 engine improvements over the original Rome and called it a day. So no more factions than in med 2 ever. What kind of value they use to store that variable that only allow 31? It's an arbitrary limit, it always has been!!!

Now the rest of the limits are a "lets wait and see", "if we ever come around to it".

It's a good remaster I guess, UI apart, but is not entirely what they said.

[Basileos Leandros I]

I guess, in my case, I really don't know or appreciate the differences between PC and Mobile UI implementations in the first place. I do not now, nor have I ever played games on a smart phone or other mobile device. This probably means that I'm missing some context about which others seem to be keenly aware - though I still don't hate the current version, in either case.

I don't play mobile games either, but I am familiar with the more simpler UI that requires multiple clicks to get the information required.

It's a technical limitation - you do not have enough space on the mobile to show all of this, hence why multiple clicks are needed, but on a PC game this is not necessary. Also I see a lot of comments rail against the confusing UI compared to the original, which in my opinion, was actually solid.

[Sir Furlong]

I've been noticing the UI for using an assassin is really clumsy, you can't just right click on a settlement or character and be presented with a list of targets, instead there is a little menu in the bottom left corner listing all possible targets within a certain range. I wasn't sure I really agreed much with the UI complaints until I saw this.

[EgyptianNecrophiliac]

Despite the poor UI choices/porting UI from mobile, and the absolutely atrocious city pathing for units (they did not improve this gaping problem at all, despite us complaining about it since 2004), I'm actually enjoying the game. It's still RTW.

[Slaytaninc]

So Feral basically admitted defeat on the faction limits. That's disappointing but basically what I expected. Looks like hope still lies in the projects to map mod later games.

[CDMan477]

Any noticeable diplomacy or AI changes for the campaign map for anyone who has played this yet? I've seen how they've added a bit to the diplomacy screen but the AI used to attack your faction the minute you shared a common boarder in Rome I. Didn't matter if you were allies, or, in good relations. If at war, a few turns after a cease fire is struck they will immediately attack you again. Just curious if this feature is still in the game.