27 replies to this topic

[Mouth of Sauron]

Hello,

after a long break I am back... I've lost my motivation, it happens to modders quite often I think, but I have re-installed the games again and would like to continue the work on my mod for the ROTWK (the bad thing is that I did not back up my RenX files which was really stupid, I had many gondor and rohan figures rebinded and it was easy to modify them...)

I will shortly present the mod, collect your potential ideas, and perhaps find someone to join me to work on it :

The whole system is based especially on the new faction system and the mod is built mainly for the WotR mode of the game. I always wanted, when I played for Mordor, to command also the Goblins and Isengard; when I played for the MotW, I wanted also to be able to build elven structures in Lorien and have an elven army to come to my aid when I needed it... the co-operation with the AI allies is poor and accidental. I also did not want to see the Mordor army that faced me to mix the Mordor's own structures (orc pits, troll cages) with the Harad desert tents, and the absence of Rohan irritated me, etc.

The solution was the following idea : two new big factions (Good and Evil) destined for the human players (there is no AI set up for these) that merges the respective 'sub-factions'... that way the human player may build, playing for the Evil Faction, his Mordor or Isengard or Goblin or Rhun or Harad structures anywhere he wants, he may build armies according to his plans and to his view of the Middle-Earth stories, he may mix them or keep them separate.

And to prevent the opposing AI forces to mix the structures and styles, the AI factions still exist. There is one general problem the system cannot overrun - the limit of 4 player armies per faction. The Good Faction has 2 Gondor Armies (Aragorn and Faramir), 1 Rohan Army (Eomer) and 1 Elven Army (Elrond), the Evil Faction has 3 Mordor Armies (Witch King, Gothmog, Mouth of Sauron) and 1 Isengard Army (Saruman).

The max number of WotR players is 6... the recommended combination is the following one :

Team 1 = human player with the Good Faction
Team 2 = AI evil Factions = Mordor, Isengard, Goblins, Rhun and Harad

or

Team 1 = human player with the Evil Faction
Team 2 = AI good Factions = Gondor, Rohan, Elves, Dwarves

.......................................FACTIONS.................................
...........

- Good Faction (merging the good factions for the human player) = 4 player armies (Aragorn, Faramir, Eomer, Elrond)
- Gondor = 2 player armies (Aragorn, Faramir)
- Rohan = 1 player army (Eomer)
- Elves = 1 player army (Elrond)
- Dwarves = 1 player army (Dain)

- Evil Faction (merging the evil factions for the human player) = 4 player armies (Witch King, Gothmog, Mouth of Sauron, Saruman)
- Mordor = 3 player armies (Witch King, Gothmog, Mouth of Sauron)
- Isengard = 1 player army (Saruman)
- Rhun = 1 player army (not ready)
- Harad = 1 player army (not ready)
- Goblins = 1 player army (Goblin King)

There are subfactions within the major factions :

- Gondor ... Arnor subfaction (Arnor structures can be built on Arnor region maps; not ready)
- Elves ... Rivendell (Elrond), Grey Havens (Cirdan), Mirkwood (Thranduil) and Lorien (Celeborn)... specific battalions have the subfaction's unique banner carrier and may be combined in regiments ; the Elven Porter can build any elven structure
- Mordor ... Angmar subaction for the northern maps (not ready)

................................LIVING WORLD MAP.................................

- the house colours, territory borders and home region border no longer distort the Middle-Earth map
- no shining ring around the builtplots
- a bit smaller LW structures
- the BFME1 Golden Hall of Edoras is back
- the outcome of this is that the BFME2 RotWK lw map looks more or less like the one in the BFME1 campaign...
- the big aim for future is to implement the RJ huge lw map project into the mod

............................. GENERAL CHANGES....................................

- house colors and structure banners removed
- farm radius (money range) = 80 (was 300)
- most of the structures are garrisonable
- the victory conditions count now also the Heros for victory... with your last structure or porter destroyed, your army does not die if you still have at least one hero
- all fortress gates are closed by default and opened by the AI to let pass it's own troops

............................ FORTRESS CHANGES....................................

- all fortresses are garrisonable with 4 infantry, cavalry, hero or siege machine units
- Gondor fortress has no more the Numenor Stonework upgrade and gets the Siege materials upgrade taken from the Marketplace
- Elven fortress has no more the Vigilant Ent expansion
+ Elven Wood special power (former spellbook power)
- Mordor fortress has no more the Gorgoroth Spire upgrade and the Morgul sorcery upgrade, but Mordor gets walls

...............................PORTER CHANGES.......................................

- the porters can repair structures

- the Good Faction builds Gondor, Rohan, Elven or Dwarven porters from the respective fortresses, and starts any battle with a "Good Men Porter" and a "Good Elven Porter"; the Good Men Porter builds Gondor or Rohan Structures, the Good Elven Porter builds Elven and Dwarven Structures ; this faction will also be able to build Arnor Porters at the maps of the region of Arnor...

- the Evil Faction builds currently Mordor or Isengard porters from the respective fortresses, and starts any battle with an "Evil Mordor Porter" - this porter builds Mordor/Haradrim or Isengard structures ; the Mordor porter can switch between Mordor and Harad structures (this will be removed when Harad and Rhun factions will be created ; when these will be ready, the Evil Mordor Porter will build Mordor or Harad structures and the Evil Isengard Porter will build Isengard or Rhun structures... on specific maps the Mordor porters will build also Angmar structures...

..............REMOVED STRUCTURES AND UNITS......................

- Archery Ranges (archers buildable in the barracks)
- Elven Ent Moot (ents are not buildable in tactical battles)
- Axe Throwers

.....................ALL FACTION UNIT CHANGES...........................

- each unit can get the basic training upgrade directly, no need to purchase the "technology" at every battle
- no forged blades upgrade
- no glow around the banners
- arrows cannot damage structures, swords and pikes do much less damage (use fire and siegeweapons to destroy buildings and fortifications)
- fire arrows are not a permanent upgrade but a special ability the unit can use for a limited time (for 1 minute with 3 minutes reload time) ; to use the flaming arrows, the horde must be at lvl 2, and the unit must not be moving... using flaming arrows limits also the speed of the battalion to 60%...
- there are many possible combinations of hordes offering different formations with bonuses

....................................................GOOD LW HEROES...........................................

Gondor Fortress : Aragorn*, Faramir*, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin
Rohan Fortress : Eomer*, Theoden, Eowyn
Elven Fortress : Elrond*, Thranduil, Glorfindel, Arwen, Haldir, Celeborn, Galadriel, Treebeard, Bilbo
(* army leaders)

*** The Fellowship of the Ring ***

- Aragorn : Athelas (lvl 1), Blade Master (crushes the ennemy; lvl 2), Mount Brego (lvl 4), Leadership (lvl 4), Summon Oathbreakers (lvl 9); FotR costume lvl 1-3, 2trs costume lvl 4-9, RotK costume lvl 10 ; stealth near trees
- Gandalf : Wizard Blast (lvl 1), Lightning Sword (lvl 2), Mount Shadowfax (lvl 5), Istari Light (lvl 7), Word of Power (lvl 10); turns White at lvl 5
- Legolas : Twice Arrows, Knife Fighter (lvl 1), Farsight (lvl 3), Train Archers (lvl 4), Arrow Storm (lvl 7) ; stealth neer tress
- Gimli : Axe Throw (lvl 1), Leap (lvl 2), Slayer (lvl 5)
- Boromir : Horn (lvl 2), Blade Master (crushes the ennemy; lvl 3), Speech (lvl 5), Mount + Captain of Gondor (lvl 7)
- Frodo : Rock Throw, One Ring (lvl 1), Elven Cloak (lvl 3) ; the One Rings turns Frodo invisible but will attract the attention of the Eye of Sauron
- Sam : Rock Throw, Frying Pan, Right with you Sir (armor bonus for Frodo et close distance) (lvl 1), Elven Cloak (lvl 3)
- Merry : Rock Throw (lvl 1), Elven Cloak (lvl 3), Knight of Rohan (lvl 8)
- Pippin : Rock Throw (lvl 1), Elven Cloak (lvl 3), Guard of the Citadel (lvl 8)
... the Elven Cloak makes the Hobbits look like four different stones

*** Gondor Army ***

- Faramir : toggle weapon (lvl 1), Wounding Arrow (lvl 2), Mount (lvl 3), Leadership (lvl 6), Captain of Gondor (lvl 7) ; stealth neer trees

*** Rohan Army ***

- Theoden : toggle mounted, Leadership (lvl 1), King's Favor (lvl 4), Glorious Charge (lvl 6)
- Eomer : toggle mounted, Leadership (lvl 1), Outlaw Leadership (lvl 2), Spear (lvl 5)
- Eowyn : Smite (lvl 1), toggle mounted (lvl 3), Disguise (lvl 4), Shield Maiden (lvl 5)

*** Elven Army ***

- Elrond: Athelas (lvl 1), Leadership (lvl 3), Farsight (lvl 6), Tornado (lvl 7), Restoration (lvl 10)
- Celeborn: Athelas (lvl 1), Leadership (lvl 3), Farsight (lvl 6), Tornado (lvl 7), Restoration (lvl 10)
- Galadriel: Athelas (lvl 1), Leadership (lvl 3), Farsight (lvl 6), Tornado (lvl 7), Restoration (lvl 10)
- Thranduil: Wild Walk (lvl 1), Move Unseen (lvl 3), Elf Cloak (lvl 4), Dead Eye (lvl 7), Thorn of Vengeance (lvl 10)
- Haldir, Arwen, Glorfindel not changed (yet) ; Treabeard can carry two hobbits, Bilbo not ready yet

..........................................EVIL LW ARMY LEADERS...................................

Mordor Fortress : Witch King*, 8 Nazguls, Gothmog*, Mouth of Sauron*, Shelob, Gollum
Isengard Fortress : Saruman*, Wormtongue, Lurtz, Sharku, Ugluk
(* army leaders)

... the evil factions are not changed yet except for a few details.

.......................................... THE RING .......................................................

It is Frodo who has the One Ring ; do not play this mod with ring heroes enabled... when Frodo is killed he respawns as Frodo-noRing ; Frodo with the Ring will give important leadership bonus to all allied units on the Mordor region maps ; Sauron is a Mordor faction hero that can be built on the lw map from Mordor fortress within 20 turns (this must be tested)

The basic scenario will start with Aragorn + the hobbits in Buckland ; Gandalf in Rohan with Eomer and Eowyn, Theoden as an expensive hero to be built from Rohan fortress, Faramir defending Gondor borders with an army of rangers, and with elven armies and heroes at their respective positions ; the Nazguls hunting the hobbits, Saruman building his army, etc.

I was considering a major change to the maps and battles in open fields : no structures might be built, just tents or simple wooden buildings or fences... the great siege battles would than take place only at the "historical" fortresses... you can't came to Mordor and build a Gondor or Elven town under the Mount of Doom. But this is a point I will work on later.

MoS

[man_of_gondor]

Welcome Back

[kafuka]

Like that youre making a mod for wotr.. not many have done it. Oh i also did almost excatly what youre doing. Merging all good factions into one and starting with a men and elven porter... and the same with evil faction. Ive done it with RJ mod because i really like his mod. Oh and one thing that striked me when
reading thru ur post is that there is no limit in player armies.. im playing with 7 playerarmies right now. All four Gondor heroes plus thranduil to represent mirkwood, Haldir to represent Lothlorien and Eomer for Rohan. Using more that 4 playerarmies for AI also and works.
Looking forward to ur mod.. will try it.

[Mouth of Sauron]

All works fine with more than 4 player armies untill you have more than 4 player armies (of the same faction) in the same battle = CTD ...

It is silly that one player cannot play for more factions. With one player you may build and manage more fortresses during a tactical battle, why can't you command and control your allies than. I am afraid there is nothing we can do about that.

MoS

Edited by Mouth of Sauron, 27 May 2010 - 12:39 PM.

[kafuka]

Actually never entered a rts with more the 4 of my own playerarmies but it may explain a crash i had when entering a battle against 5 AI armies for Mordor.. never thought it might be the cause of crash.. no problem for me i just have to avoid that situation but can see your point if youre making a public mod.

[Mouth of Sauron]

Yes, it certainly was the cause ; the problem is that the game cannot handle more than 3 reinforcement armies. I am not sure if this might be changed...

Actually you may not be able to avoid battle with more than 4 armies : you may take the ennemy territories and find all his player armies in the last one.

MoS

[kafuka]

Usually pick em off one by one by cutting of the retreat.. One thing that would be cool is that if each faction could keep their spellbook. I havent looked at
it yet and dont know if its possible. Right now all factions share the menspellbook. Oh and another thing was curious about the limit of playerarmies so i just
briefly looked thru the files and noticed that RJ had written some custom scenarios and in one of them he uses 3 starting playerarmies and then later on spawns
3 more all for the men side. Didnt try it but perhaps a way to override the limit?

[Mouth of Sauron]

I have made one GOOD and one EVIL spellbook for the big factions and I am ok with it ; there are spells I do not like... + I tried to use some of the spells not via the spellbook, but via fortress for example, and it works pretty good (like the Elven Wood or Taint) ; but I will work on this later as well. I don't like the Oathbreakers to be spawn without Aragorn, and there are other things, I do not like the Lone Tower spells, Arrow Volley, Wyrm, etc. Some of these might be given to specific characters.

About the player armies : no, I don't think there is a solution... anytime you have more than 4 of them, you risk CTD ; of course, it may be ok if you eliminate the ennemy armies and use your ones wisely, etc. I want my mod to be stable, with no bug and no CTD I can prevent. The map is big and 4 player armies parhaps is not enough, on the other hand, it makes the war more realistic, you can't do everything at the same moment, you have to prepare your strategy, choose your objectives and directions, concentrate your forces...

MoS

[lordkarranyi]

nice mod


but how to down t


s the mod ready

[Mouth of Sauron]

No, it's not ready... and I had to restart ...as many of the changes I made were overcomplicated, I have started many different projects and subprojects and after the break I felt totally lost in my mod, I didn't remember what was to be done, how...

I have restarted, with better system... It won't show all those detail changes mentionned above (maybe later), but it will be stable, complete and balanced for all factions. Basically I work on a WotR mod now, creating the Good and Evil factions for human players, removing the basic vanilla things I did not like (all those glows around units, banners or blades, house colors, etc.); it will take long

MoS

[Mouth of Sauron]

There's been a problem with my mod, the DOZER kindof of the heroes, presumed to make the army survive the destruction of porters and essential structures if there was at least one hero, caused CTD for the AI.

I've been working on the dwarves a bit, changed the weaponsets of their structures, so now they do not "throw axes", the most weird thing of the vanilla game, but fire arrows. I have removed the axe throwers and replaced them with archers... borrowed from another mod, as many other things in my mod, which makes it strictly private thing for me and my precious and made a combohorde for the dwarves as well (the archers with the phalanx), the zealots are now living world unit, like the noldor warriors with the elves or knights of Dol Amroth with Gondor.

An overview of the currect stage :

Gondor

Heroes : Aragorn and Faramir as army leaders, Gandalf, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas, 4 hobbits
Hordes : Soldiers, Pikemen, Archers, Rangers, Tower Guards, Shield Guards, Knights, Lancers (knights with lances), Knights of Dol, Pelargir Pikemen
Combohordes : Soldiers-Pikemen, Soldiers-Archers, Pikeman-Archers, Tower Guards-Shield Guards, Knights-Lancers
Siege : Trebuchets

Rohan

Heroes : Eomer as army leader, Theoden, Eowyn
Hordes : Peasants, Pikemen, Yeoman Archers, Rohirrim (lances and shields), Light Rohirrim (lances or bows)
Combohordes : Pikemen-Archers, Rohirrim-Light Rohirrim
Siege : none actually

Elves

Heroes : Elrond as army leader, Celeborn, Galadriel, Glorfindel, Arwen, Haldir, Thranduil, Treebeard
Hordes : Lorien Warriors, Lorien Archers, Mithlond Sentries, Galadhrim Warriors, Imladris Warriors, Noldor Warriors, Imladris Lancers, Imladris Horse Archers
Combohordes : Lorien Warriors-Archers, Imladris Lancers-Archers
Siege : Ents (for now)

Dwarves

Heroes : Dain, Gloin, Brand (no army leader)
Hordes : Guardians, Phalanx, Archers, Zealots, Men of Dale, Battlewagon
Combohorde : Phalanx-Archers
Siege : Catapults, Demolishers

Mordor :

Heroes : Witch King, Gothmog, Mouth of Sauron as army leaders, 8 Nazguls, Shelob, Goblin King, Azog, Drogoth, Grond, Balrog, Sauron
Hordes : Orcs, Orc Pikemen, Black Uruks, Orc Archers, Goblins, Goblin Archers ; Easterlings, Haradrim Archers, Haradrim Riders, Corsairs of Umbar
Combohordes : Orcs-Pikemen, Orcs-Archers, Pikemen-Archers, Goblins-Archers (not yet ready)
Monsters : Cave Troll, Mountain Troll, Drummer Troll, Attack Troll, Mumakil
Siege : Catapults, Siege Towers, Battering Rams

Isengard :

Heroes : Saruman as army leader, Sharku, Lurtz, Ugluk, Wormtongue, Hwaldar
Hordes : Uruks, Pikemen, Crossbows, Berserker, Warg Riders, Thrall Master
Combohordes : Uruks-Pikemen, Uruks-Crossbows, Pikemen-Crossbows (not yet ready)
Siege : Ballistas, Mines, Ladders

Underlined may be built only on the living world map, ithalic on specific maps only (fortress maps, mountains, Umbar, etc.) ; the "good" faction merges the good factions for the human player, the "evil" faction the evil factions.

The projects

Arnor as a subfaction for Gondor, I will use the original hordes of soldiers and archers, most probably I will change the Pelargir Pikemen to Arnor Pikemen, and I will use the original Knights of Dol Amroth for Arnor Knights, plus, of course, the rangers.

Gondor will get more heroes, Denethor and Imrahil; and different shields and banners for their basic troops. Not sure about the King of the Dead...

Rohan will get more heroes, Hama, Gambling, Grimbold, Erkenbrand... not sure about Theodred ; they also need a siege machine.

Dwarves will get Thorin, son of Dain II

Mordor will be split to Mordor, Rhun and Harad ; Rhun will get the BFME1 Easterlings, some archers, riders, wildmen, a thrall master, perhaps the Necromancers ; Harad will get the BFME1 spearmen, horse archers, corsairs ; Mordor it-self already has a subfaction of Goblins, and will get a subfaction of Angmar; these will be tied up with specific maps so that Mordor forces appear different at Osgiliath and at Mount Gundabad.

Isengard will also get some Angmar elements.

The Powers

Destructive powers are removed, arrow volley or rain of fire is no more; only support and summon powers left, but not the big ones like Balrog or Army of the Dead. For the summons the reload is much longer, but also the time the units stay on the map is long. Some powers don't need to be purchased but are accessible through the fortress : rebuild, barricade, elven wood, palantir vision. Some of the destructive powers will go the powerful heroes, Galadriel might get the earthquake for example.

The structures

Mostly garrisonable, stronger armor, impenetrable by arrows. Fortress and wall hubs are buildable on all maps, the wall hub does not need the fortress to be built, and it can be built anywhere on the map. That makes the walls with catapult upgrade perhaps the most usefull siege technique, which is weird and unintended... weird... actually, the whole original system is weird, isn't it. An army of Elves arrives under the Mount of Doom, builds fortresses, plants the region with Malorn Trees, recruits new elven warriors... I have no solution for now, my original idea of tent camps sleeps.

I want to replace the orc and uruk pits with the big mordor and isengard tents. Easier to build and easier to destroy, but much better looking.

In the actual stage of my mod there are three ways to win a battle : a quick one - build a strong mostly cavalry army on the living world map and charge the ennemy, kill his porters whatever the cost ; a slow or very slow one - build your fortress and use siege weapons (the easiest way : wall upgrades) against the ennemy's encampement ; build your fortress and build a strong army with upgraded troops, and march against the ennemy... your combohordes will last long, and most probably the ennemy will forfeit the region.

It's pitty the game does not ask the player if he accepts the surrender of his ennemy. Sometimes it may be nice to continue the battle, sometimes, after 60 minutes of struggling, having killed 10.000 ennemy units, one may like to accept the "offer"...

Two big projects for the future : to implement the rj living world map, to use the BFME1 Gondor and Rohan castles or their parts somehow.

***

I do it alone, coding, mapping, textures, models, scripts, for my pleasure. As I said, many things, especially models and textures, are taken from other mods. I use textures at 64 x 64, we are in 2011, the game concept is from 2004, I don't see any reason to ameliorate the look of the different models from the technical point of view, plus, with hundreds of different units there are lags with heavy textures. I use the original camera, so I don't need any special details. Anyway, this mod won't ever be published. I don't even remember from where all the different parts come, who should I ask for permission to use them, some are changed, most are resized. I like many ideas from other mods, like SEE, RJ, RC, TDH, ElvAll and others, I use them for inspiration, and, of course, as source of "material" It's not that I would take their models and textures as they are. I have rebinded the rohirrim model for example, given them a new shield, and I combined different textures from existing mods ; I have taken the lorien warrior shield, resized it, given it to the imladris lancers, and again, combined different textures, etc. But these are small and easy changes, I can imagine that the original artwork done by all those who work for the big mods is much more difficult.

MoS

[Mouth of Sauron]

The evil combo hordes are done; I have the BFME1 soldiers of Rhun back in the game, and some very nice archers as well, I've made the Haradrim Palace and the Mumakil Pen my new LW buildings... it's quite easy to do so and one even does not need any other model but the basic model of the structure. I am closer to the possibility to split Mordor, Harad and Rhun (the reason is I do not want to see the ennemy to mix up the styles... when I face Mordor, I want to fight the orcs and trolls)

I would post some screenshots, the combohordes look quite impressive with their different formations, but I encounter a problem that seems to be quite usual with new machines, the printscreen gives me a picture of my desktop, not of the running game.

I have made two scenarios for the WotR, 'historical' scenarios with the Fellowship in Rivendell, etc. I will work on it in more details with all factions ready; but still... there is the big lw map project... one thing is a little disappointment for me with the rj_map : the Crossroads are not there... a very nice map from the BFME1, a very good place to do battles between Osgiliath and Minas Morgul...

And I got a quick idea I will put here so I don't forget about it : I will also make a dark scenario... the 3rd age over, Sauron got the ring, the free peoples are destroyed or enslaved, and now it's time for Sauron to punish Saruman, basically it would be about a war between Mordor and Isengard, with a few remnants of the good factions figthing both brutal ennemies.

MoS

Edited by Mouth of Sauron, 09 February 2011 - 07:36 PM.

[Spartan184]

You can press F12 to take pictures ingame. They then appear in your BFME2 folder inside the Pictures folder

Edited by Spartan184, 09 February 2011 - 10:09 PM.

[Mouth of Sauron]

Thank you

Mordor hordes in basic formations, soldiers of Rhun, orcs and goblins :



Mordor hordes in basic combo formations (goblin warriors and archers, orc warriors and pikemen, pikemen and archer, warriors and archers, soldiers of Rhun and the other Easterlings, and both with archers of Rhun) :



...defensive formations of Mordor combohordes :



...detail of the soldiers of Rhun :



...details of the orcs and goblins :



Isengard basic formations :



...basic combos :



and defensive combos :



And finally... a short presentation of the current stage of the WotR mode :

Good factions :



Evil factions :

[Spartan184]

Wow this look very interesting, will be watching this for when it gets released.

[Mouth of Sauron]

Like I said, I used many models, textures, script and code from other mods, and I don't even know from where came all those things, I am unable to give credits, etc. (the 'production' branch of my 'team' is quite lazy... I find a thing, I take it, I do not note it, I forget about it) As the Lieutenant of Barad Dûr cannot be taken for a theiiiif, most probably I won't be releasing this mod... untill a day, perhaps, when this game passes to the shadows of abandonware and only few would remember what must not be forgotten.

Maybe, when it's ready, I might just present it to the leaders of the big mods and see if they allow me to release it (my aim is not to fascinate the others by the beauty of models or textures to prove my artisctic skills that don't exist, my aim is to make the war of the ring as complete and as realistic as possible with this engine, I use 64x64 textures for the units for example)

Edited by Mouth of Sauron, 10 February 2011 - 11:17 AM.

[Mouth of Sauron]

Progress... Angmar given to Mordor as subfaction : the Mordor porter and the Isengard porter can build the Angmar fortress + the human evil player can build Angmar structures on the living world map ; all heroes available (for trial) except, of course, for the Witch King and Morgomir); I will have to improve the units to get them to the MoSMOD standard (no forged blades, formations, combohordes), and, if I remember them well, the snow trolls with their ridiculous pickaxes will have to be removed. I have made a human Angmar porter to match with the voice.

LW also has it's haradrim farm for the future Harad faction, currently just for the Evil player. With those three buildslots in Harad I can now have the palace, the mumakil pen and the farm, no more orcish structures needed

One of the important goals concerning the evil heroes is accomplished as well... the Nazgul. The eight evilmenblackriders can dismount or mount the horses, but finally, from lvl 8, also the fellbeasts. That was not difficult. The Witch King... I want him to be just like the others untill a certain level when he gets his helmet-crown and the mace. There are two difficulties. The muwchkng_skn is scaled down to 2/3 of normal models, I have no idea why... I have rebinded it but then I realized many of the animations are the BFME2 format and my renx does not read them, so I was unable to scale those accordingly to my new model. Since I could not use the muwchkng with "scale = 1.5" and another model for the same object (the other model would also be scaled...), I have the Witch King on foot in his helmet and with the mace from level 1, for the rest the things were easy : untill level 8 and mounted on horse he looks like all other Nazgul, for lvl 9 I give him the RotWK Angmar model with dark nazgulish texture (I wanted to use that one in a way...); at lvl 8 he rides his fellbeast and looks like the other Nazgul, at lvl 9 the King is revealed.

There were some troubles with that on the living world map, one unit represented by three different objects, a few CTDs were obviously necessary, but I have found the solutions and everything works nice.

I think it might be possible to use a hidden mount toggle for him to finally get there the evilmenblackrider on foot model. Actually, to create the "evilmenblackrider1" with one foot and two horse models (which should be easy), and who would 'mount' either the WK on foot, it's own childobject, or the WK on fellbeast. The issue is that WK on fellbeast is not going to be my "real witch king" for use on the LW map... perhaps the solution is the horse mounted WK as the basic template, the other would allways respawn as that one... I will see to it.

I have also changed the texture of the Nazgul, so that now they really do not have face, just the black hole ...an idea I had a long ago was to give them an ability that would change their appearance to their spectral form, the white ghosts of ancient kings, a sort of stealth ability, with increased fear effect on the ennemy perhaps. Perhaps the oathbreaker models could serve well for that purpose, I will see to it later.

Except for the WK, they cost nothing to be respawn on the LW map if killed ("No... you cannot kill them"). My heroes are not (re)buildable in fortress during tactical battle as it annoyed me to kill twelve Sarumans or fifteen Boromirs in a row; but the Nazgul perhaps might be... it should last long to respawn, but maybe I will do it.

Concerning the Nazgul, there is also the question of the scalars to be considered. Aragorn was proven slayer of the Nazgul for example, on the other hand, Gandalf seemed not to be able to face the WK at his hour, but Eowyn, of course, with Merry, why not, might get some advantage against him. Arwen might be able to face the Nazgul as well, and Glorfindel, of course ...and the eagles.

MoS

[Mouth of Sauron]

Done

The Witch King starts now as Black Rider, on foot, on horse from level 1, on fellbeast from level 8, and gets his armor at level 9, again, on foot, on horse, and on fellbeast (for testing it's been level 1 to mount the fellbeast and level 2 for the armor); it works fine, including the weaponset upgrade, no problem on the living world map. The only minor thing is that if he gets the upgrade while on foot, he has to mount horse or fellbeast to change appearance, and dismount again to see the armor on foot. I've tried the ReplaceSelfUpgrade, but this one gives me the other object at level 1, as a completely new thing... I've tried to make this new object leveled (as ChildObject WitchKingOfAngmarLvl9 WitchKingOfAngmar), it worked, but when that one got mounted, the new template did not inherit the experience; as there was probably no experience to inherit ...perhaps if I created a special experience award for that childobject, it might work, I will give it a try. (*)

The Nine of the MoSMOD has left Minas Morgul :













(*) Edit: no, does not work.

Edited by Mouth of Sauron, 13 February 2011 - 12:57 AM.

[Mouth of Sauron]

Another idea I had earlier... and it's not difficult, just time consuming, was to change the textures of buildings in Minas Tirith occupied by evil forces, those of Minas Morgul for the good armies (possibly with eliminating the sorcery effect), and later also Helm's Deep, Rivendell, Erebor for the evil forces, I am not sure about Dol Guldur, that one would need more work, not just textures (if possible).

But the Minas Tirith is the first one and the most important, as, taken by the evil forces, it should look different when you come back to free the city... or to defend it by your reserve troops against ennemie's ridiculous efforts.

There are only few minor details that cannot by affected by the SubObjectsUpgrade behavior triggered by the owner's faction starting upgrade. A trial... how Minas Tirith might start it's change into another Morgul nest :



MoS

Edited by Mouth of Sauron, 14 February 2011 - 02:42 PM.

[Mouth of Sauron]

It's simple to turn off the sorcery effect in Minas Morgul for the good factions ; however, when fogged, the subobject is still visible. Better than nothing, but I'd like to find a solution. Maybe a script might help there... (*)

I've also made the stairs passable... don't know yet what will I use that for, but it's nice

(*) Edit... much easier just black textures MinasIthilFX2 instead of the real MinasMorgulFX2 and MinasIthilFX1 instead of EXTornado for the respective faction upgrades, and it's done (the problem is the DONT_HIDE_IF_FOGGED tag in kindof)...

Now I will change the textures of Minas Morgul walls, gate and tower for good factions ; the only problem pending is the day time script. There must be a way... at least for Minas Tirith under evil occupation I might try to use some sort of special power, tiggered by the initial upgrade and active, with similar effects to the spellbook darkness, given to one of the MT buildings. But how to change the dark Minas Morgul night into a nice morning, full of hope... only for player 1 being a good faction of course...

Edited by Mouth of Sauron, 15 February 2011 - 08:32 AM.