Release: 1.54 - Bugfixes galore.

Bugfixes and updated source code.  Simply unzip to the main install directory, overwriting the existing files.  You must install 1.5 (the big download) first, and starting a new game is very recommended, if not 100% necessary!

Yup, it's finally here

I could write a novel about this release;  it's lengthy and tortuous development cycle, all the experimentation that went into it, the joys of rewriting most of the TW shader code, its huge remaining bugs / unfinished features, it's general level of awesomeness.

I won't. 

Heck, I won't even write a changelog for this one; it's so huge and so different that it may as well be a whole new game.

But before I get into my fairly lengthy mea culpa, I would like to thank (in no particular order) the following people:


...and the very helpful people who have answered my questions at the Forge.  Without your kind assistance and Open Source content, building a mod like this would have been impossible, and I wanted to thank all of you for your support for mods on this engine.

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Folks, I have had a lot of fun modding this engine, and I've had a lot of fun getting to know this wonderful community, but I think that this will have to be it. 

I originally wrote this mod in the hopes that TW wanted to hire a good game designer, because that's my core skillset, along with art stuff. 

So I knocked out the first build over a roughly 60-day period, mainly using OSP artwork that I touched up here and there, and wonderful people have helped me out in various ways.

Which is why this mod's credit list is so varied and long; because so many folks, purposefully or not, have helped out along the way.

I want to single out a few folks; Mackie, Narf, Barf and Dthehun, who all were incredibly generous with their artistic work and talents; without Dthehun's work to get me started, I doubt very much that I would have felt up to making a mod with so many female warriors in it, let alone making that one of the main things that makes the mod really stand out. 

Arch3r, Caba ' Drin, MadVader and other folks who helped out with coding issues, especially during the early days when Module System was a whole 'nother language to learn.  People like SacredStoneHead and Youhou, who showed up out of the blue to make Awesome happen; solid artists like Llew who didn't bat an eye when I casually lifted whole chunks of his stuff.

And I can't forget to mention the mysterious Elder Beings from the pre-Warband days like my heros Luii, POP, RR_Razor and Amade, whose special work was at the core of Blood and Steel's irreverent approach to History and Fantasy. 

Lastly, I want to thank Barabas for his feedback and support while getting my hands dirty with the TW shader code; it was very useful to have a sounding-board and a little friendly competition.  All you folks on this list are wonderful; this literally could not have ever existed without your help and support.



Anyhow, this mod was originally my way of saying, "hey, you guys, I need a job".  It never really got anywhere but people really enjoyed the mod so I kept at it, and here we are today.

This last release pushes this engine to the limits with all sorts of fancy stuff that I experimented with, trying to squeeze the last drop of performance out of this engine, and if you have an uber-machine with plenty of RAM you can expect some pretty amazing stuff, in terms of battle sizes and visuals.  If you don't have that uber-machine, just trim your Battle Sizes down a wee bit and enjoy bigger battles than you can get out of Native or any other mod.

So I'm happy with it even though it's manifestly Not Done in various places.  Here comes the mea culpa part:

I apologize for it being a little half-baked; I'd have liked to have finished it completely but I only realized what an awful case of Kitchen Sink Syndrome I'd gotten into a little late.  The source code's included, as usual, so perhaps somebody will finish the stuff that's manifestly not-done or just not debugged.  I doubt it, but it's why I made it Open Source in the first place, in the hopes that some stranger would have the chutzpah to take it over and the skill to make it happen.

So things like the Aleph are definitely in the mod and working, but not as polished as they should be, etc., etc.  That said, I think there are a few hundred hours of quality gameplay here... and a lot of new features that will keep B&S fans busy for quite a while, as well as just being gosh-darn pretty.

I'd like to promise a bug-fix patch or another polish pass, because I'm quite sure that this release isn't as polished, nay, even as complete as I wanted it to be.  You'll see what's missing pretty quickly, but hopefully it won't mar your overall experience.  I apologize if any truly game-breaking bugs are still in it; I'd recommend not converting Companions into Lords because that area remains pretty buggy.

But the fact is, I am just about burned out on modding this engine, and I need to admit it and move on.  I built TCs for two other engines between January and now, and quite frankly I either need to find a job doing this stuff or find a less time-consuming hobby

Anyhow, hope everybody enjoys themselves playing this mod and Happy Holidays to you all!!!