For one thing, you've set your sights way lower than even what the previous ROME TOTAL WAR mod team had achieved before they broke up, which is wise if you're a one-man operation, but possibly unwise if you want to produce a really good mod. You'd almost be better off trying to get their assets from the first time around and using them to put together a quick release, rather than duplicating half of what they'd done, but not being as ambitious.
Your next problem is immersion. Simply put, the first time you fight a battle as Andor and a Roman army appears on the field, any illusion that you're fighting in the WoT world vanishes. Having the Westlands map and the faction descriptions and banners is nice, but it's not really enough to make the mod convincing enough as a WoT game.
I really don't see what you mean here.
First off, WoT has gunpowder: the Band's dragons, Mat's firework bombs, Aludra's shrapnel guns and so on. If you don't want to bother with them (they've played very little role in affairs so far) then they can be dispensed with by simply removing all gunpowder and cannon-based units from the game, which is very easily done.
The other point is that the basic medieval units in the game - pikemen, swordsmen, infantry, militia, lancers, cavalry, even native forces for the Aiel - already resemble their WoT counterparts with no changes needed. Simply give Andor Britain's units with some name changes (including Welsh Longbowmen for Two Rivers Bowmen) and you're pretty much set. It isn't any work and it looks better than having Andor field an army of Hastati or Legionary Cavalry.
I can understand the point that ROME works better (it isn't just your PC, MEDIEVAL II wasn't very well-programmed in the first place and isn't quite as well-optimised) and you may be more familiar with it, but as a 'fit' for the WoT gameworld MEDIEVAL II is much more appropriate. That's why the previous mod died as after two years of work MED II came out and the creators were left feeling cheesed off that all their work converting ROME units into heavy infantry, dismounted knights and pikemen was a waste of time and felt so disheartened they gave up.
This turned out to be a mistake, as actually the unit textures and .doc files they'd spent ages converting could all be uses in MED II as well (the two games share the same engine, after all), but they gave up before that became clear.
Hopefully I haven't been a downer and good luck with the project, but I'm thinking that a much more ambitious WoT mod is really possible for the game (either ROME or MED II). The previous team even figured out how to use the firey ammo catapault effects to replicate the One Power on the battlefield, which was very cool.
Your next problem is immersion. Simply put, the first time you fight a battle as Andor and a Roman army appears on the field, any illusion that you're fighting in the WoT world vanishes. Having the Westlands map and the faction descriptions and banners is nice, but it's not really enough to make the mod convincing enough as a WoT game.
There's another reason I am going with Rome Total War. I am NOT planning on modding new units. That would take me too long. So, I was left with some difficult decisions to make. Many technologies in Medieval 2 Total War are too far advanced for the wheel of time (e.g. units with guns) setting. On the other hand, all of Rome Total War's units fit the Wheel of Time setting. BUT, as you've pointed out, the functionality and modding capabilities of Rome are less limited compared to M2TW.
Ultimately, because I realized I do not have enough time to mod/make new units, I chose to go with Rome instead of M2TW.
Ultimately, because I realized I do not have enough time to mod/make new units, I chose to go with Rome instead of M2TW.
I really don't see what you mean here.
First off, WoT has gunpowder: the Band's dragons, Mat's firework bombs, Aludra's shrapnel guns and so on. If you don't want to bother with them (they've played very little role in affairs so far) then they can be dispensed with by simply removing all gunpowder and cannon-based units from the game, which is very easily done.
The other point is that the basic medieval units in the game - pikemen, swordsmen, infantry, militia, lancers, cavalry, even native forces for the Aiel - already resemble their WoT counterparts with no changes needed. Simply give Andor Britain's units with some name changes (including Welsh Longbowmen for Two Rivers Bowmen) and you're pretty much set. It isn't any work and it looks better than having Andor field an army of Hastati or Legionary Cavalry.
I can understand the point that ROME works better (it isn't just your PC, MEDIEVAL II wasn't very well-programmed in the first place and isn't quite as well-optimised) and you may be more familiar with it, but as a 'fit' for the WoT gameworld MEDIEVAL II is much more appropriate. That's why the previous mod died as after two years of work MED II came out and the creators were left feeling cheesed off that all their work converting ROME units into heavy infantry, dismounted knights and pikemen was a waste of time and felt so disheartened they gave up.
This turned out to be a mistake, as actually the unit textures and .doc files they'd spent ages converting could all be uses in MED II as well (the two games share the same engine, after all), but they gave up before that became clear.
I did not give enough information in my original post. I am NOT changing everything. In fact, I do not have time to change MOST things. Most of the changes will be things like a new map, changed faction names, new icons reflecting wheel of time banners, etc.
I will post another post below with some updated stuff on what I've done.
I will post another post below with some updated stuff on what I've done.
Hopefully I haven't been a downer and good luck with the project, but I'm thinking that a much more ambitious WoT mod is really possible for the game (either ROME or MED II). The previous team even figured out how to use the firey ammo catapault effects to replicate the One Power on the battlefield, which was very cool.
Wheel of Time for Rome Total War
29/12/2009 05:35:19 AM
- 1582 Views
You are so totally cool. Can I like... touch you? Can I have an autograph? *groupie scream* *NM*
29/12/2009 06:20:57 AM
- 343 Views
It sounds fantastic. Of course, why not use Medieval II? *NM*
29/12/2009 02:39:07 PM
- 289 Views
I actually like Rome better, so it doesn't really bother me *NM*
30/12/2009 12:06:43 AM
- 350 Views
I guess I was just thinking from a gameplay perspective....I've never really done any modding
02/01/2010 10:12:55 PM
- 752 Views
yikes, I had to look up "Total War" just to have a clue what you were talking about!
29/12/2009 11:20:01 PM
- 695 Views
Several questions
31/12/2009 05:38:09 PM
- 962 Views
Re: Several questions
01/01/2010 04:23:13 AM
- 896 Views
I can see pluses and minuses to this approach.
01/01/2010 11:00:13 PM
- 942 Views
I updated the original post with a link that has screenshots to the overland map *NM*
20/02/2010 12:24:41 AM
- 312 Views