What's your load order? (Warband Native Mods & Tweaks)

[BHunterSEAL]

It's been a while--maybe a year or so--since I've played Warband but watching Game of Thrones has gotten me very much interested in getting back into it. As we all know, there are a few mods which make the native singleplayer experience go from fun to truly deep and engaging. Looking around, it seems like the modding community has continued to be very active. I am now faced with the daunting task of rebuilding my Warband install to the point of perfection it was at last time I played: I remember I had a few graphical, sound, and gameplay mods going, but there's no way I can remember them all or how they interfaced with each other.

I am posting this here, and not in the modding forum, because I am primarily concerned with expanding the Native experience. And because this is the only M&B subforum I've really browsed or participated in for... three years now? Plus, I'm assuming most of you are running mods similar to those I did. You'll know best

I am also hoping that this thread can be a resource for any new (or old!) players looking to get the most out of their singleplayer Warband experience. Since there are now so many mods--and the modding forum isn't particularly well-organized--I think it would be helpful to have this thread here to highlight some of the great mods that have appeared over the years that are both minimally-invasive and represent the most significant value-add for players.

Anyway, here are the ones I was considering, along with my comments. I would love to hear suggestions. Once I get a stable build up and running, I'm planning (if there is interest in this) on updating my OP with links. Hopefully this will be of use to some of you out there. Right now I have a bunch on here as I'm looking for peoples' experiences with what they've used, I plan on paring down this list into a core group of essentials that I end up going with.

Graphical
Polished Landscapes--see below
Realistic Colors--Are these compatible? I thought they did similar things but I've also heard of them being combined...
Graphical Pack--how/does this fit in with the above two?
Improved Buildings--again, how does this fit in?
Expanded Horizons--this goes with Realistic Colors
Texture Fiddling--this goes with RC/PL
Thel's Facepack
Blood Enhancement Tweak
"Moar" Horses/"Moar" Warhorses

Sound
More Metal Sounds--this mod I remember is fantastic
Sounds of Suffering--this is designed to go with MMS
Epic Man Sounds--anyone tried this?

Mechanics
Training fields
Diplomacy+Pre-Battle Orders & Deployment--a given!
Custom Commander

Units/Gameplay
Magus Mod--new expanded troop trees that keep the spirit but expand on the ones in Native
81 New Units--it's actually 95 now, same idea as above
Combat animation enhancement--is this any good?
Better Faction Troops 2--more of a rebalancing than a massive addition
Native Expansion--more sweeping changes, maybe not exactly what I had in mind?

Other
TweakMB--goes without saying
Battle Sizer--ditto
Better Banners
Faction Arms Colored--really a matter of preference I guess


Notably missing are a couple mods that I either couldn't find or don't seem to be compatible anymore. The first is Reworked armors, which evidently doesn't work post-1.126. Truly a disappointment, as I really liked the fix for the hideous nomad armor, but I think the texture fiddling mod might do that. The other is a mod, the name of which I can't remember, that tweaked the length of missiles in-flight to make them appear slightly larger. It made a huge difference, if I recall, but I can't seem to find it.

Also, I would love to hear some recommendations on what the most complete and polished singleplayer total conversion mods there are, although that really goes beyond the scope of this thread/subforum.

 

[manekemaan]

you might want to start working with this then, its an open source project. You might already know it? native mod compilation?

http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,126993.0.html

and if you want to expand unit trees, make sure you give people the option to play your mod with the normal unit trees. Some people (like me) dont like to complicated trees. But make sure this doesnt interfere with the option to have a custom troop tree. I love my own calradian troops!

if u want specific ideas just ask

 

[BHunterSEAL]

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to mislead. I'm not making a mod or a module, this is just supposed to be a list of mods that add a lot to Native without changing the game. Including a lot of graphical changes, etc., that aren't in any existing compilation. A lot of this is stuff you probably set up on day 1 of an M&B re-install but have probably long forgotten about... like the terrain and texture changes, I had forgotten how ugly vanilla Warband is without them

Basically I'm trying to make a list, for myself and later (after I've figured out what combos break the game, etc.) for reference, of a handful of mods/tweaks that anyone interested in playing Native should consider. Mostly for new players that are overwhelmed with the massive quantity of add-ons out there, and for old ones (like me) that have to cobble these together for a fresh install.

But for now, I just want to hear about what ya'll play with alongside Native so I can get my build set up with minimal trial-and-error. From what I recall, I was running Better Banners, a few TweakMB fixes, Diplomacy, both more horse skins, Realistic Colors, More Metal Sounds, and of course the Battle Sizer... and probably a few others I can't remember.

 

[manekemaan]

oooh i see :p

well freelancer i like
also there is this new mod "vision" something which adds cool features to native like being able to controll the battle without participating yourself etc