Look! What can you say?
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=7015 - Rider

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads//easterlingri_pOT.jpg


http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=7014 - crossbowman and archer

http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads//easterlingcb_0xa.jpg

More good stuff Zerver!

what i can say is AMAZING :)

I really wish i didn't have homework... i want to get to put these in today.


(i hate school, i can only work on the mod on weekends)

sorry about that rant, Zerver, those are amazing :)

That's awesome!!

Thomas, I hate school too, not only because of homework, also because of my stupid little annoying classmates... But we have to be strong, and create more units. By the way, does someone think about creating the gondor warriors from the movie (Return of the King)?

We have one from Chugginator which could probably be reboned into different units...

(but if i had a preference on units made, i'de say we need some early dunland units... (just hairy barbaric people))

I like the horseman, and the horse's cloth was a good idea! :)
I think the Easterlings were definitely one of my better units, one of my favourites.

@ thomas - The guy I made for Gondor was actually based on a Numenorian but they are essentially the same and look similar anyway..

Wow, amazing!
About other units, does anyone know if is it possible to convert units from the Battle for The Midde-Earth to civ? It has a lot of interesting units...

Wow, amazing!
About other units, does anyone know if is it possible to convert units from the Battle for The Midde-Earth to civ? It has a lot of interesting units...

Ehm, of course it will be nice, but I think if itll be possible to convert 3d models with animations from another games to Civ4, the real and intersting unit making will die... But it is only my opinion.:nuke:

I don't have Battle for Middle-Earth but if someone supplied the models (in a readable format) and textures then I could definitely convert them to civ.

Later I'll send you a few models to test - thought I don't know if the format is readable, or can be converted.
And Zerver, I agree that the units made specially for Civ - and for a specific mod - are much better. They have much of the artist creativity, and a special flavour, and work better with the game they were made for. But we need a lot of units, and some of the units in BFME are really good, so we can use them too - until we have a good substitute.

Thanks, make sure you include any texture files needed.
I think that sometimes the "homemade" units can be better (but looking back on some of my older units I don't really like them, and sometimes feel like re-making them) but then the professional units from other games are usually very high quality, so it can be hard not to use them in most cases.

Thanks, make sure you include any texture files needed.
I think that sometimes the "homemade" units can be better (but looking back on some of my older units I don't really like them, and sometimes feel like re-making them) but then the professional units from other games are usually very high quality, so it can be hard not to use them in most cases.

wanting to remake stuff is a commen problem under artists :) once you have some distance and leave the "just made" flash, you see whats wrong with your work :) and the better you get, the less you like the stuff you did a month ago :)

well about units from elsewhere, I suggest keep focusing on consitency, so either take all from somewhere else or nothing, otherwise the mod looks made up and patchworked, which destroyes atmosphere.

just my 2 cents.

Well, about this patchworked look, the units of BFME are all movie based, so they match almost perfectly with most units people make. And this is one of the things I was thinking about when I said units made specially for Civ are better.
Anyway, it seems the game models of BFME are all compressed into a single file, so it will be difficult to get them. Probably it's better to simply forget it.

wanting to remake stuff is a commen problem under artists :) once you have some distance and leave the "just made" flash, you see whats wrong with your work :) and the better you get, the less you like the stuff you did a month ago :)

I know it's really annoying! My Uruks and the Gondorians don't look half as good as they did when I first made them.


Anyway, it seems the game models of BFME are all compressed into a single file, so it will be difficult to get them. Probably it's better to simply forget it.

What sort of file is it?

I don't know wich file contains it... There are several .biq files, including some called W3D.biq, Textures.biq and Shaders.biq. There's also a DAT file, called asset, and some .m3d files. There are others, but these are the ones I would guess contain unit models. Any idea?

I think .biq are movie files but not certain and .DAT files are just data (like xml maybe?) If it's the .m3d file (which it most likely is, I think) then it could possibly be converted to a usable format. I'll have a look for something.

edit: hmm.. having difficulties finding stuff now, the plugins seem to be for another 3d program that I don't use

Well, so let's leave it. Probably with time we'll have all the units we need. We already have a lot of great units, and they keep coming...

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/425/elvenshiprt5.jpg

I managed to convert this from Battle for Middle-Earth 2. I think it looks good, it was an elven battleship or something or other.

Awesomius!

Yep, it's an Elven warship. Awesome!

That is gorgeous. Can you upload your converted files Chuggi?

Well it was going to be exclusive for the Arda mod, woodelf, but you asked nicely :)

EDIT : See post 29 for attachment.

I just want to look at it in max Chuggi. Thanks. I might find some pieces to borrow. :)

No problem! Also some stats if you like - there are 3196 polygons, which is a little high but it is a sea-unit so you're not going to be building hundreds in your game. Also the original sail didn't import properly from the original format, so I made a new one using the Galleons sail as a base, and then reskinned it. There were also more textures - but now it only needs one texture (which is 512x512 pixels) but I recommend resizing it back to 256x256 just to be safe. Lastly I removed a few polys by getting rid of stuff which I thought was unnecessary.

i have noticed the galleas geometry is invisible but still in the nif adding something about ~1000 polys to the count. Is this a necessety due to the rebone technique used ? There is nothing linked to it...

Do you mean the galley? if so, delete it. I must have forgotten about it

Yes Galley, sorry :blush: I am not actually using the file, just took a closer look, because the ship looked very impressive :D

I'll reattach a version without the extra model in the file, I tend to leave stuff "hidden" in the nif files rather than deleting in case I need the part later (then I forget about it :cringe: )

Thanks Chuggi. I hate creating a nif, zipping the file, uploading the file, and THEN realizing I forgot something. Not cool.

Yes this isn't the first time it's happened either. At least it was spotted quickly tho (thanks refar) :)

thanks, look really good... wow, you're on a roll today :)

Amazing, incredible, fantastic! It is quite different from the other ships of Civ4, but it's great, with the swan in the front and everything. Beautiful!

Excellent, Elven ship looks great!

Chugg, I just decided to make your Rohan Rider abit more 'touched' up, I mean just make it more realistic to LOTR (Movie more than book) :crazyeye: . Just made some minor changes like made the shield abit bigger, horse bigger (to suit rider), spear positioned down abit, body posture, neck and head re-vised (made to suit riding position), and removed the second piece of the Horses armour, as many of the Rohan Riders had no second half, and only the generals leading them had full array..(could afford).

Original:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/274/rohanrideroriginalrf2.jpg


'New' version:
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/9886/rohanridernewkl7.jpg

I know this thread is done... but Chuggi, how did you actually convert the file? What program did you use? The file has me completely puzzled. :confused:
Thanks

Which file? I think the download is in zip format.. and I used winrar to compress it. You have to extract the folders out of the zip file.

How do you do this units? What program do you use?

Teaser2 in signature

Teaser 2 looks great, BtS needs ALL the leaders in the game, make you could do that??:p

How do you do this units? What program do you use?

I use 3ds Max, Photoshop, SceneViewer and NifSkope :D

Teaser 2 looks great, BtS needs ALL the leaders in the game, make you could do that??:p

I'm doing most of the leaders (not all of them though) :) In my mod I'm just using them to replace some of the Great Generals (for example I might make Montezuma to replace Aztec's Great Generals for the ancient and medieval eras).

I use 3ds Max, Photoshop, SceneViewer and NifSkope :D



I'm doing most of the leaders (not all of them though) :) In my mod I'm just using them to replace some of the Great Generals (for example I might make Montezuma to replace Aztec's Great Generals for the ancient and medieval eras).

Whats your ETA on this MOD and do you mind if people ("rip" you off right away, :rolleyes:

Whats your ETA on this MOD and do you mind if people ("rip" you off right away, :rolleyes:

I haven't started it properly yet (just been making graphics, no xml work yet) but I suppose an ETA for a first release would be sometime in January. What do you mean by "rip" me off :lol: ?

I haven't started it properly yet (just been making graphics, no xml work yet) but I suppose an ETA for a first release would be sometime in January. What do you mean by "rip" me off :lol: ?

If you need xml files for unit inclusion, you can use my african unit xml files of the EthnicEraArt testmod. I think they cover every single unit used by the epic game for this artstyle, and for the different graphical era's where appliable.
Or else you can sent me a bunch of graphics and I'll link them up. ;)

:eek: that looks realy good!

Which file? I think the download is in zip format.. and I used winrar to compress it. You have to extract the folders out of the zip file.

:lol: Lol sorry for being unparticular. What I really meant to say was how did you convert the Battle For Middle Earth 2 model. I was looking in the folder (I have the demo) but don't know what programs to use to convert it. I don't have 3Ds max, if that is how you did it. But I am experienced with models, and know Blender, Sceneviewer and Nifskope. Thanks for the answer though.

What's "ETA"?

ETA is the estimated finish time.

If you need xml files for unit inclusion, you can use my african unit xml files of the EthnicEraArt testmod. I think they cover every single unit used by the epic game for this artstyle, and for the different graphical era's where appliable.
Or else you can sent me a bunch of graphics and I'll link them up. ;)

Thanks, but I was planning on basing it on avain's mod (with his permission of course) ;) I may have to bribe him though :D

:lol: Lol sorry for being unparticular. What I really meant to say was how did you convert the Battle For Middle Earth 2 model. I was looking in the folder (I have the demo) but don't know what programs to use to convert it. I don't have 3Ds max, if that is how you did it. But I am experienced with models, and know Blender, Sceneviewer and Nifskope. Thanks for the answer though.

Oops I thought this was "The Rohirrim" thread and I thought you meant the first page... nevermind.. my fault.
:lol:

If I remember correctly, I found a plug-in for 3dsmax that allowed me to import the BFME2 files... but first you have to extract the BFME2 files from their archives using a special program (I think the archives were .big files?) Also it was a little buggy because a lot of the models didn't import into max very good anyway... and most of the models were pretty low quality with the exception of the ships and the buildings.

Thanks Chuggi. I have everything set up, but just one question: How did you extract the .big files?

I think this was it - http://www.cncden.com/gen_utilities/finalbig.zip

Thanks Chuggi, I had found that before too. However I open it up select the w3d.big file (right?). However nothing shows up. Here (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2401/2124989317_490d4439b6_o.jpg) is a link to a screenshot (the (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8764986@N03/2124989317/) original page). Did this happen to you? :confused: Also, when I click extract all, nothing extracts. And I tried opening up some other .big files, some opened, and some didn't. Any ideas what I am doing wrong? This is really starting to annoy me.

EDIT: I finally got it. Downloaded a different version from another site, and it worked! I don't know why it suddenly started working, but I don't really care. Thanks for all your help Chuggi. :goodjob:

Sorry, I just couldn't resist posting some of my findings. I know what you mean by a lot of the models being buggy. Check out this goat:
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/7594/screen06cq6.th.jpg (http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screen06cq6.jpg)
But at least some of the models are working. I figured out how to import everything into blender, relatively easily:
I find the model I want with finalbig, extract it as a w3d, import in the w3d into gmax equipped a bunch of plugins, extract it as a .obj (through the help of another plugin), and then import the .obj into blender. It works ok, but boy, are some of the models buggy. :lol:

Awesome glad you worked it out! Poor goat :yumyum:

As for your relatively easy methods, it sounds like the kind of lengths I go to sometimes :lol:

Great, now that you know how to convert BFME units, what about some units? :p

I'm getting to it, it might be a while though. Still working out some problems with my method. I'll post them when I am done. ;)