Begin a new game and chose from one of 32 new banners. Then, search the vendors for shields, horses and surcoats & mail which match your family's colors. Start recruiting squires from one of the 32 new mercenary knightly orders --- when they get promoted, they too will wear their heraldic gear.
These are just some of the things I've added to Heraldic Calradia.
From a role-playing aspect, this mod allows you to be a member of a noble family and recruit mates from your same order. Other orders will of course join you in battle as well, and the battlefield never looked so colorful.
I was inspired to do this after playing Llew2's Hundred Years War, which is a fantastic mod. I loved being a member of the French or English and then searching around for my blue or my red, or recruiting men who would wear the same. I wanted to take it a step further and provide even more choices, more colors, more heraldic (or semi-heraldic) symbols so that the battlefield would be an absolute maelstrom of knightly variety.
Please at least skim over the readme (posted at the bottom of this thread), as I've also made some other changes. While the new content is obviously the centerpiece of this mod, Heraldic Calradia also reflects just a few small changes which, to me, make the game more to my taste. In some cases these changes will be easy for you to undo, should you decide you like Native better, while in others (e.g. the greater frequency of mail and the lower frequency of plate), they're kind of essential to my vision of a "Heraldic Calradia".
In any case, I hope you like it. The many many screenshots below represent most, but not all, of the added content in this mod.
Download link:http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=7&lid=703
From the readme:
Heraldic Calradia version 1.0
for Mount&Blade version .903
Created by MarkQuinn
THANKS TO:
yellowmosquito for the use of his Banner and Flag Standardization Pack found here:
http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=3&lid=688
Without this mod, I wouldn't have been able (or willing) to add matching banners for all my armor sets.
It's a great mod and well worth the download if you wish to create new flags for Mount&Blade.
--------------------------------------------
The Yogi's Realistic Native Weapon Sizes found here:
http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=6&lid=557
The huge weapons in native Mount&Blade always bothered me, especially the bastard sword. This mod
changes all the weapons to a more realistic size.
*Note: if you prefer the native weapon sizes, go into your Heraldic Calradia folder and open the module.ini.
You will find three lines:
load_mod_resource = weapon_meshes_c
load_mod_resource = weapon_meshes1
load_mod_resource = weapon_meshes_b
Change then to the following to get your old weapon sizes back:
load_resource = weapon_meshes_c
load_resource = weapon_meshes1
load_resource = weapon_meshes_b
This is of course a personal preference, but I hope you'll give the new weapon sizes a chance, as The Yogi
worked very hard on them and they're very well made!
--------------------------------------------
Llew2 for the use of his pigface helm and kettle hat from Hundred Years War mod (my favorite mod ever). Llew2
asked me to be sure and provide credit to Luigi who created this content for Dukes Mod. The pigface helm (renamed
"Houndskull Helm" for my mod) is really very well made and when I saw it I knew I had to import it for the brave
fighters of Calradia.
Hundred Years War can be found here:
http://www.mbrepository.com/modules/PDdownloads/singlefile.php?cid=7&lid=655
--------------------------------------------
Of course, many thanks to TaleWorlds for the base meshes and textures used in this mod, and for creating such a
phenomenal game. It plays like Sid Meier's Pirates!, has elements of strategy and deep role-playing, and mounted combat
so realistic that you actually flinch when an axe comes whirling toward your face. Come on, admit it, you do. ;)
WHAT THIS MOD DOES/ADDS:
-32 Retextured surcoats, shields and horse coverings, each in their own matching set.
-32 new banners which match one of the armor/shield/horse sets.
-32 new knightly orders, each wearing one of the sets.
>They begin as squires which you can recruit in taverns. Squires will hold the shield of their knightly order but do not
earn the horse or the surcoat until they're promoted to knight. They do however wear newly retextured "shirt and mail"
items and plain covered horses which remotely resemble their full blown knightly gear. All of these items are available for
purchase.
-3 new matching faction surcoats and warhorses worn by Vaegir Knights, Swadian Knights and Nord Champions.
>Nord Champions have been changed to "Nord Knights" and ride their own warhorses now.
-New "Mongolian" style horse armor for Khergit Lancers. These horses use modified textures from the Khergit Guard Cuirass.
>This new horse armor is also added to a 33rd recruitable troop, a renamed Khergit Lancer mercenary for those who want
some expert mobile standoff firepower added to their party.
-Some missing items have been added/readded to the game. Where applicable, these new items have received new IDs and
names.
>One example would be the three "strange swords". Where only one (to my knowledge) was available in a chest, now
all three (katana, wakizashi and no-dachi) are availabe for sale and renamed "Khergit Noble Sword". I realize the Khergits are losely
based on Mongol horsemen and the "strange swords" are Japanese through-and-through, and I certainly know well the difference
between Japan and Mongolia and all their weapons and armor. Let us say for the sake of argument that Calradia is just one
continent on a larger world and that the Khergits are not actually native to Calradia. They come from a distant land where our
world's Asian equipment is every bit as real as Calradia's European-style equipment. The Khergit nobles, impressed with the
"strange swords" during a failed invasion attempt of another "strange island", turned back by this foreign group's elite "strange soldiers"
and a "strange storm" that sunk most of their ships (and would, centuries later, be used in reference to a wing of suicide pilots who
dive bombed the ships and carriers belonging to yet another strange navy), decided they would adopt these weapons for their
campaigns to take Calradia. Now you too can purchase them from your favorite local smith! :)
>Some native troop types will use these new items. One example would be the "itm_byzantion_helmet_a" item. I gave it a new
ID so it is now "itm_byzantion_helmet_a2" and renamed it "Iron Vaegir Helmet", leaving all the modifiers as is. You can now buy this
item or enjoy the Vaegir troops who occasionally wear it.
-Hired Blades now wear one of three newly retextured mail and surcoats.
-Tried my hand at retexturing faces. The results are so-so. The newly textured face is the womanface_midage file. I'm sorry, that
woman was not midaged. She was an old hag, period. Now she is younger. If you like it, do nothing. If you don't, simply remove
the "womanface_midage.dds" file from your Heraldic Calradia texture folder. I may or may not keep it myself --- it was an experiment.
-As mentioned above, smaller weapon meshes have been included thanks to The Yogi's Realistic Native Weapon Sizes mod. Unlike
that mod, I do not change any base weapon stats, with one exception. I made the bastard sword weaker, lowering it's strength, speed
and length. It's still a very good sword and unless I want to upgrade to a two-hander, I'm USUALLY hard pressed to find something better.
Still, knowing that speed is as important as power in this game, I'll sometimes come across a Balanced Nordic Sword or something else
which I think might give me a slight edge. I did this because of the way I play. I play with damage to myself and my friends on "normal"
and combat is always set on fast with good AI. I want the game to be hard. But one thing I always give myself is noble birth because I
want the banner. I don't however like getting one of the most powerful swords in the game right off the bat because then what do I have
to work toward? Now, the bastard is still powerful, but you can also find better (and by better I don't just mean better modified bastard swords).
-95% of the towns, villages and castles have been renamed. The native names didn't make any sense to me. I simply went to a "fantasy town
name generator" website (I don't recall which --- actually I think I went to a few) and tried to mash together the best of what I could find into
something that made more sense to me. In some cases I had to take what they spit out and change it slightly (or altogether). The Khergit towns
were either left alone or given actual names from small towns in Mongolia which I felt were a little more pleasing than native. The results,
in my opinion, aren't perfect, but they're better than what we had before (at least to western ears). If you prefer the native names, simply
copy the parties.txt from your Native folder and paste it into Heraldic Calradia, answering "yes" when asked to overwrite.
INSTALLATION:
-Open the rar file and copy the Heraldic Calradia folder (there may be a Heraldic Calradia folder inside another Haraldic Calradia folder.
If this is so, take the innermost one!). Place this folder into your Mount&Blade Modules folder. In the "current setting" dropdown menu
on your Mount&Blade startup window, chose "Heraldic Calradia". Now you're good to go.
BUGS:
I've tested and retested this mod and found no problems. However, I've added a lot of content so if there's a small problem with something,
please let me know by PMing me on the official forums (member name: MarkQuinn). That said, this mod primarily adds new items and aside
from being incredibly tedious, adding new items is fairly straight up. You shouldn't have any problems with this mod.
