Betrayal at Calradia 0.2 - a Midkemia Mod for 1.x - Released July 15, 2009

[HokieBT]

ok, I quickly tried to finish a beta/alpha release for people to review.  Please download it here and post any feedback you have.

Download Beta Version 0.1.2 - https://www.mbrepository.com/file.php?cid=7&id=1100

NOTES
This is a beta/alpha release intended for people to do testing and give feedback on the progress so far. The 'core' of this mod has been created (factions, troop tree, world map, etc) but there is still more work to be done especially with equipping the troops with armor/weapons. This means that since only a few items have beeen given to troops the loot after battle will be very limited for now. There are other issues like the Western Kingdom and Eastern Kingdom can make war with each other and the mercs and outlaws have not all been modified yet. The source code is included in the ModuleSystem folder so if anybody wants to help out with the coding or modifying the map further than it would be a big help. Also, it has been a while since I have read these boots so if there are any major mistakes or other suggestions then feel free to post them.

TROOPS AND ITEMS
Troop tree's have been created for all factions and they have been very quickly outfitted with weapons and armor. My original concept was that we could use a majority of items from the native game but just re-name them and change their stats. For example, a lot of the lamellar armor was renamed and use for the Tsurani and the tribal warrior or fur tunics used for Kesh. A lot of native items like armor, weapons, shields, etc, could also easily be re-textured for each faction. I started re-naming and modifying stats on items (these are all at the bottom of the items file) but this process is not complete. I have also included two of the OSP packs for horses to add variety but these have not been given to any troops yet. I have permission to use items from Fantasy Mod, so the Goblin and Troll in the game are from that, and I need to review what other armor/weapons were available. We could also use help with specific suggestions on what type of items each troop needs, what native items could potentially be re-textured, etc. Help with equipping troops, re-texturing items, or anything else would also be appreciated.

MAP
Movement on the map may be more difficult since there haven't been any bridges placed yet. The enemy may be able to run away to inaccessible area's on the edges of the map so we may need to add rivers/mountains to all edges. Cstles/towns have been renamed but villages are still native calradia names. I used the 'snow' town/castle/villages for the moredhel in the north so we either need to add snow to the top of the map. I used the 'steppe' town/castle/villages for the kesh in the south, so it might be worth adding some desert or steppe terrain. The 'snow' and 'steppe' scenes could also be removed from the moredhel and kesh factions if that makes more sense.

FUTURE PLANS
My free time is very limited, I also can't model and my texturing skills are weak, so I don't see massive changes to this mod.  However, I eventually want to add things like the Polished Buildings Mod, Custom Battle Mod, Shield Bash Kit, gameplay changes or improvements like hero autoloot, etc. Any comments, suggestions, or help on this mod is appreciated.

I haven't taken a lot of screenshots, but here are a few I took when I was testing Trolls/Goblins....

 

[Servitor]

Okay, It's installed and I am starting the module.


* There's some red text when starting a new game. Something about faction diplomacy. But I guess you know this already. It's pretty obvious xD
* Pressed Alt-F4 after getting into the game. The map needs some cleaning. No offence meant!

Servior

Edit: I mean, I am going to clean the map before playing. xD

 

[Geroj]

wow,  i never heard about this, but it looks good, like good old Last Days

 

[Servitor]

****ing hell, Of course right when I want to go edit a map, the map editor screws up. When I click the shortcut, it does start the MBeditor process, but not the application. I didn't notice this, so in my rage pressed the shortcut 10 times. What did I get? 10 Map Editor processes eating away my CPU. o.0

I will look into the editor problem and just try the mod out in the meanwhile. Meh.
Servitor

 

[sepa]

Servitor:

This is first map done by me and its far from complete. I got a problem that my laptop stinks and I got trouble with FPS in the editor - when I zoom out its like a few FPM more than FPS... Any help is very very welcome.
As you can see, there are only 2 rivers and the landscape is 'done' only in Western Kingdom. The reason for it is that in current stage its pretty much impossible to import new colour map (with all rivers) without ruining the map - you will need to correct a whole lot of small issues after importing. Well, if one have a decent PC it may be a while, but again, when u have a low FPM in editor it's a horrible task... And painting the rivers in the editor while looking on the map in other window is another unpleasant thing...
So, if you wanna play with the map - you are very much welcome. Here are some links to maps I used:
http://www.shoalcreek.com/feist/midkemia.htm http://www3.hi.is/~eybjorn/krondor/krondor.html
I've also used map from BAK (just a screenshot) and book maps. They are slightly different to the BAK map.

It would be nice to put in all the little passages etc from books, i.e. from Honoured Enemy or Silverthorn, but it's a very hard task...
Ok, time to take a look on the mod

 

[Servitor]

Well, I have a pretty decent computer now, but my editor is screwing up. =.=

 

[HocusPocus]

Hi, just played the Beta and it's looking good so far. I like the Magic system although I think the fireball missile looks a little big. I don't know the book so I can't comment on the story feel except to say it seems a good fantasy setting. Good job.

 

[HokieBT]

Hi, just played the Beta and it's looking good so far. I like the Magic system although I think the fireball missile looks a little big. I don't know the book so I can't comment on the story feel except to say it seems a good fantasy setting. Good job.

thanks, although there are other mods that do magic which looks much better, in my opinion the AI really can't use it all that well.  That is why I'm planning on using the 'firearms' skill for offensive magic, and do invisible guns or eventually staffs or other objects you can hold.  I agree I need a better fireball mesh, right now I'm using a re-textured planet from my star wars mod (hehe) as basically a placeholder, but eventually I want to add a tail to it and make it partially transparent, other spells, etc.

 

[Llew2]

I agree I need a better fireball mesh, right now I'm using a re-textured planet from my star wars mod (hehe) as basically a placeholder,

Awesome.

 

[sepa]

Ow, there are a lot of strange holes and spikes on the map which I haven't noticed earlier, sorry. They must have somehow appeared when I lastly updated the map. Well, that's exactly how it works on my laptop - I click and drag here, something happens in there, 'coz it somehow got selected... crap...
Also the shallow water look not nice, vastly different than in editor.

Magic is nice. U think u can do area damage, Hookie? And, U think it is possible to limit this ability to a special player class only? Or to connect it to a skill/trait?

I've noticed an error with Dark Elves - face textures turned to just colour when looking from distance. Lowest detail setting.

More comments when I'll play a bit. Good work Hookie.

 

[HokieBT]

Magic is nice. U think u can do area damage, Hookie? And, U think it is possible to limit this ability to a special player class only? Or to connect it to a skill/trait?

Magic is currently an invisible gun and a fireball bullet (we can make a better model and spell variations later), but it works.      The firearms skill, that I renamed 'Magic', controls how good you are with it.  The player currently starts with 35 in that skill, the Tsurani magic users have 75-135 range, any everybody else is the game should be zero.  The Tsurani magic users are also the only troops with 'magic' as an item, so this somewhat limits it. If we add elves then some of their troops could potentially get it too.  It might be possible to limit it only if a player chooses a certain class, but I'm not usually a huge fan of limiting gameplay, so I'd probably lean towards making it really expensive or you'd have to get the item from a certain location, etc.  This firearms = magic concept is really the only one that works for the troop AI (in my opinion), but I can add some player only 'magic' or abilities.  The source for the Magic mod has a flame staff (shoots and does area affect), items that heal you when throw, ability to conjure horses or other items, spells that kill everything in a certain range, etc.  These really only work for the player, but I'll see if I can toss a few in the next release mostly for fun and to show people whats possible.  I'd also like to integrate the Shied Bash Kit, since that works good for all AI troops. We could also do really good invisible shields for the Magic users so they would be difficult to kill, etc.    Actually, maybe I should give the Tsurani Magic users a "staff shield" which would go in their left hand, so they could hold a staff and use magic at the same time... Would that look cool?  I should also add some weapons/armor/items that do stat bonuses (armor does +2 ironflesh, etc) and swords/daggers that are held in the left hand just because I want to see a troll run at me with two axes...  Anyway, changes like this and magic are fun, but seems like it should be a lower priority since I want to get a decent base for this mod first.  I think we're close but it seems like we need to tweak or fix a few things.

I've noticed an error with Dark Elves - face textures turned to just colour when looking from distance. Lowest detail setting.

oops, minor defect.  I think I fixed it, try re-downloading the zip file from the repository, it should be save game compatible.

 

[Servitor]

Well, I tried it and have a nasty error. Every one of those ... dark man things... have white faces when they get further away than 5 yards or so.

Edit:

I've noticed an error with Dark Elves - face textures turned to just colour when looking from distance. Lowest detail setting.

Right, That one. I will try out the new one then. Hehe.

 

[Luizinho]

GREAT

i really like feist's books, can't wait for the new one this year.


...bye the tsurani didn't have horses in the first rift war, they had that other mount creature, six leged, but slow and very resistent.


anything you wanna ask about the books just pm me


i cant mod

 

[phillo99]

Are the moredhel (sp?) troops supposed to just use their fists? When I take them out to battle, they're just punching the enemy.

 

[Servitor]

oops, minor defect.  I think I fixed it, try re-downloading the zip file from the repository, it should be save game compatible.

Yes, You fixed that issue. But now the character's hair are freaked up. At least mine are.

The hair still has the correct colour, but it doesn't have any structure/texture. Only colour.
Servitor

 

[HokieBT]

Hmm, that's strange.  Maybe my change messed up their face keys and I need to regerate them or something like that... Maybe its not saved game compatible, but I bet its an issue with the face codes...  Thx, I'll check it out.

Any luck getting the map editor working? If not maybe a reboot, redownload the editor, or the .net framework, etc?

 

[HokieBT]

Are the moredhel (sp?) troops supposed to just use their fists? When I take them out to battle, they're just punching the enemy.

no, they should have swords...  I probably gave them a sword with too high a strength requirement or something, I'll check, thx.

EDIT:  oops, the first two levels of moredhel troops don't have any weapons.      that will be fixed in the next release, thx.

 

[Geroj]

Maybe i can help with this mod too, but problem is i absolutely dont know what models create

 

[MCDodd]

Didn't the Tsurani show rank via colored bands on the armor? Not bands ont he arm but across the waist....

 

[HokieBT]

I wanted to post a few comments.  First, the tough part about this mod, is since it is based on a book series, there are very few visual images to reference.  It has also been a while since I have read these books, or played any of the computer games, so that makes it difficult to decide how exactly they should look.  So anything that people can remember, the more specific the better, is a help.  But right now I'm planning on just using or re-texturing native items since most of them should fit and allow me to get 'close' to what I think each faction should look like.  Right now the kingdom and moredhel have a lot of placeholders for weapons and armor, so I want to fix them up.

These images below came from crydee.com (the author's official site) and shows a few of the races:

        Human                Moredhel                Dwarf                      Goblin                    Troll
   

Kingdom, Kesh and Tsurani are basically supposed to be humans.  The goblins and trolls that are currently in this mod don't really match these pictures, but those models came from Fantasy Mod, and personally I think they are good enough so that I'm not sure its worth creating new models for them.  I would love to add Dwarves and was planning on just making them humans with beards...  But technically they should be fatter and shorter than humans, so if somebody wants to work on a shorter/fatter body model (we can use native head) with a few armor variations that would be cool.  A better model for the fireball and possibly some other 'ammo' for magic (maybe an ice bolt, lightning bolt, other suggestions?) would also be neat.  I'm not sure we can do a 6-legged horse, and I've heard there are some problems getting a new horse model into the game, so I think its acceptable that the Tsurani captured a few of them since I think I remember that from the books.  But otherwise, I really don't see a need for a ton of new models for this mod.  The main issue is honestly going to be time, so if anybody wants to help out then let me know.      But I think if we can clean up the map a little bit (add some bridges, fix a few weird areas, etc), outfit the faction troops more appropriately, and switch a few of the mercenaries/outlaws we will have a pretty good base for this mod which should be playable.  Then after that we can expand further and work on the details, etc.