[MOD/MODCOMP] Better Looking Units [Archive] - Civilization Fanatics' Forums

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Deliverator

Apr 02, 2009, 06:11 PM

BLU Mod is all about creating a richer visual world for Civ4Col by adding new art and unique units for each race. There are also new gameplay features such as the Gold resource.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212733&stc=1&d=1241266638

Features of BLU Mod 0.6

Art
+ Conquistador (http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212745&d=1241269323) replaces Veteran Soldiers for Spain.
+ Carabela (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/carabela_J4t.jpg) replaces Caravel for Spain - both this and the normal Caravel use the EE2 unit adapted for Civ4 by Walter Hawkwood and Refar.
+ New flag for Spain - the Crown of Castile banner - perhaps not strictly historical but it looks good!
+ New Simon Bolivar Leaderhead by Ekmek

+ Marine (http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211397&stc=1&d=1240147849) replaces Veteran Soldier for France.
+ New flag and colour scheme for France (http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211398&stc=1&d=1240147849). I never liked that dark purple colour. They now use a nice royal blue. Iroquois moved to light blue and French King to a nicer dark blue.

+ Veteraan (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/dutchsoldieringame_Ahe.jpg) (needs a better name - can anyone Dutch suggest?) replaces Veteran Solider for Dutch.
+ Dutch have a custom replacement for the browncoat musketman
+ Revised Dutch Leaderheads (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=7303541&postcount=8) by lionheart (and Dutch King renamed to Stadtholder)

+ Aztec Warrior - reskinned Aztec Jaguar
+ Sioux Warrior - reskinned Dog Soldier
+ Sioux Scout, Musketman and Cavalry (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/sioux_complete_meB.jpg) by bernie14 (with horse textures adapted from M2TW)
+ Maya Warrior - added to the mod but not reskinned yet
+ Incan Warrior - added to the mod but not reskinned yet
+ Iroquois Warrior - merge of Logan Leaderhead and Native Warrior
+ Iroquois Scout, Musketman and Cavalry (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/iroquois_complete_hW9.jpg) by bernie14 (with horse textures adapted from M2TW)
+ Apache Warrior (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/bits_18f.jpg) - Apache leaderhead merged with bernie14 unit - my favourite leaderhead port so far.
+ Cherokee Warrior (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/cherokee_Wm9.jpg) - based on the vanilla scout but using Celtic Warrior animations.

+ Implemented sezereth's blood spatter effects (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/blood_sEs.jpg) in most units.

+ Improved Veteran Units and REF (http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209007&d=1238544874) using Oleg153's textures as a base.
+ Various mounted units have more realistic horses (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads/dragoonhorse_9wp.jpg).
+ Tweaked a lot of unit scalings.
+ Main menu graphics and music (Vangelis - 1492 Main Titles).

Interface
I have added easy camera controls for panning the camera through 360 degrees and also tilting the camera (code by Lutefisk Mafia). This lets you have a look at the action from another perspective.

The hotkeys are:
Ctrl + LEFT/RIGHT arrow key: Rotate the camera in 45 degree increments.
Shirt + LEFT/RIGHT arrow key: Rotate the camera in 15 degree increments.
Ctrl or Shift + UP/DOWN arrow key: Tilt the camera in 5 degree increments
Ctrl + HOME: Return to default rotation and tilt.
(Remember ALT-I hides the interface and CTRL-I minimises it, so you can take and post screenshots!)

Gameplay
+ Gold as a resource! Gold sells for a very profitable 50 er... gold a unit in Europe, so it is worth seeking out and exploiting. (This still needs balancing I think - so post feedback)
+ Maya civilization. Using the standard Holkan graphic for the Warrior unit initially.

+ A tweaked version of Cephalo's FaireWeather called FaireWeatherTweak. In detail:
----- added a new parameter called Regularity which affects the regularity of the land shapes. Default 'Quite Irregular'. The default setting is more irregular than before, leading to some interesting maps. Due to the randomness involved, it is not guaranteed the Regular setting won't create irregular shapes - it is just affecting the likelihood.
----- rebalanced amount of Plains vs Grassland - more cotton and less tobacco.
----- slightly more jungle around the equator.
----- more tundra around the poles.
Some FaireWeatherTweak generated maps (http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212738&stc=1&d=1241267608)

+ Bonus placement reworked and optimized for FaireWeather/FaireWeatherTweak. In detail:
----- prevent resource 'clumping' - standard map scripts (A New World, Caribbean) avoid this because of fractal method used in terrain placement - you have forest next to a plains next to a marsh next to a grassland. The more realistic FaireWeather layout and man made maps suffered from resource clumping. (This does mean that if you want to play the stock fractal map scripts - you'll have too few resources, but you can always switch around the XML.)
----- Iron, Silver, Gold can appear on any hill - regardless of terrain or features (forest, jungle).
----- Fur and Deer can appear in grassland/forest as well as tundra and ice.
----- tweaked likelihoods and amounts of most resources to get a balanced mix, in particular Silver is much less common and Gold is quite rare.
Resources are placed randomly whether you are playing a scenario map or a mapscript map

+ Spanish Carabela starts with Navigation I
+ French Marines start with Amphibious
+ Aztec/Maya Warriors start with Swamp Fox I
+ Sioux/Iroquois/Inca/Cherokee/Apache Warriors start with Skirmisher I

Credits
Credit goes to the following:
bernie14, sezereth, Ekmek, lionheart, Walter Hawkwood, Refar, Oleg153.
BLUModMod uses units ported from Empire Earth II and textures from Medieval II:Total War.

Just unpack the Mod to your Colonization/Mods directory, then you can either load the mod from the game menu or create a shortcut with the target, for example:
"C:\Program Files\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization\Colonization.exe" mod=\BLU Mod 0_5

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU INSTALL THE OFFICIAL FIRAXIS PATCH BEFORE TRYING THIS MOD - available here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=11915) or here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=315714). The game's not much fun without it.

The mod now uses modular loading which means you need to have the following set in BLUMod 0_6.ini:
; Modular XML Loading
ModularLoading = 1

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VERSION HERE (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=12481) <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Version 0.4 - Screenshots

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=210646&stc=1&d=1239641854
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211397&stc=1&d=1240147849
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211398&stc=1&d=1240147849
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=210658&stc=1&d=1239646127

Version 0.2 - Conquest of Paradise

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209756&stc=1&d=1238969047

Changes:
Conquistador Units for Spain - this is the first release of these - there is still some tidy up to do on the unit textures.
Merged in the Europe Screen Mod by koma13 - no one should be without it.

Version 0.1 - Better Looking Veterans and REF

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209007&d=1238544874
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209009&d=1238544874
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209277&d=1238713325

Comparison of the existing Veteran with the new one:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=209015&d=1238545982

The Veteran Musketman and Veteran Dragoon have been reskinned to look similar to continental troops such as these:

http://www.srcalifornia.com/uniforms/p20.htm
http://www.srcalifornia.com/uniforms/p26.htm

The new REF units are basically transparent versions of Oleg153's units. Making these guy's transparent was originally done by PrinzMyshkin - I simply polished and tidied up a bit.

Deliverator

Apr 02, 2009, 06:14 PM

Aim
The overall aim of this mod is to add unique unit art for all Colonies and Natives. If I can add a few other fun features along the way then great.

Future Work/Ideas
1. New unit art for Arawak and Tupi.
2. Complete Dutch and French Military
3. Reskin (remodel?) Incan Warrior and Mayan Warrior.
4. More variety in unit faces - too many soldiers currenty have the same face.
5. Reskin basic browncoat Musketman and Dragoons.
6. Reskin cannons.
7. Ship reskins

Incidentally, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions then post them here.

ExtraCrispy

Apr 03, 2009, 11:45 PM

Let's see what other unique units we can come up with
Musketeer: Replaces regulars for the French King

Deliverator

Apr 04, 2009, 10:14 AM

Things are coming along. I'm learning quite a bit about the intricacies of swapping body parts from different models in blender.

Deliverator

Apr 04, 2009, 10:18 AM

Also if anyone is good at texturing and wants to help out then I can focus more on getting the models tip top.

Deliverator

Apr 04, 2009, 04:34 PM

Nice! I started from scratch and I now have Conquistadors plus flash bangs and minus bandy arms.

Deliverator

Apr 05, 2009, 05:34 PM

Version 0.2 is out now with the Spanish Conquistadors. Enjoy... :)

charle88

Apr 05, 2009, 06:43 PM

Looks good!Maybe you could update the spanish models' by adding the head of bernie's industrial spanish musketeer unit.

Deliverator

Apr 06, 2009, 10:53 AM

Thanks for the suggestion. Wish I'd see this earlier.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=7948950

I'll have a play after I get the different native units started.

veBear

Apr 06, 2009, 11:38 AM

Looks great :) Hope you dont mind if I use the Conquistadore in my Mod? It would fit perfect.

Deliverator

Apr 07, 2009, 03:03 AM

Not at all. I'm happy for anyone to merge these into their own mods if they want.

Deliverator

Apr 07, 2009, 09:20 AM

After much battling I've finally got the Aztec Jaguar from Civ4 into Civ4Col. It is not straightforward, but I think I've finally found a way to do it. The Jaguar is working with all animations just need to add the sound which I think can be done via XML. If the method works for the Quechua and Dog Soldier then I'll post a tutorial at some point.

As you can see I've produced a new shield, but the rest of the texture is unchanged. I've upped the resolution so it can look a lot better with some work.

Dale

Apr 07, 2009, 09:43 AM

Awesome work!

Deliverator

Apr 08, 2009, 05:52 PM

Here's a peek of what's coming next. Before you think I've become an awesome texturing artist - I sourced a lot of these textures from M2TW. With a bit of blending and bending they work really well. The great thing is there are loads of textures from the Americas campaign that are perfect for Colonization and the quality is fantastic.

Deliverator

Apr 10, 2009, 03:05 PM

Aztec is done, and I've also added Lutefisk Mafia's code (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=279032) for rotating the camera through 360 degrees. You can tilt the camera too. Once I've reskinned the Conquistadors I'll release all this stuff.

Deliverator

Apr 12, 2009, 06:39 AM

Tutorial Images

Aymerick

Apr 12, 2009, 07:16 AM

Nice work Deliverator!

I've had this idea for some time to reskin the French veteran soldier based on the "Compagnies Franches de la Marine" and make it unique. As I recall my high school history (I'm French Canadian that's why...) they were stationed in the French Caribbean islands and all over new France.

I suggest you look at this website (http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_1.asp) which as a lot of information as well as pictures and drawing of all types of uniforms like these examples:

French veteran soldier:
Soldier, Compagnies franches de la Marine of Acadia and Plaisance (1701-1713)
http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/book_images/high/v1_c6_s04_ss00_01.jpg

Sergeant and soldier of the Compagnies franches de la Marine of New France, between 1716 and 1730
http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/book_images/high/v1_c6_s08_ss02_02.jpg

French artillery:
Men of the Compagnie des canonniers-bombardiers of Canada
http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/book_images/high/v1_c6_s09_ss01_02.jpg

Soldier of the Compagnie des canonniers-bombardiers between 1750 and 1760:
http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/book_images/high/v1_x2_s01_ss04_01.jpg

Armed brave:
Micmac warrior, around 1740
http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/book_images/high/v1_c6_s11_ss02_01.jpg

I'll work on the "franche marine" texture and update with my progress.

charle88

Apr 12, 2009, 01:03 PM

Deliverator

Apr 13, 2009, 01:43 PM

Cheers guys. I have amended the todo list in the second post. I'm definitely interested in doing something for the French military soon. Now I've got pretty used to adjusting models in blender I'd like to try and do something that's slightly more than a reskin for them. Looking at these images maybe I could use a different style of hat or something.

Deliverator

Apr 14, 2009, 06:17 PM

My latest crazy idea is converting leaderheads to units using blender. It has worked pretty well so far.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=210799&stc=1&d=1239751015

Flintlock1415

Apr 14, 2009, 07:13 PM

Wow, this mod looks beautiful! :thumbsup:

Did you reduce the polycount on the leaderhead based unit? It looks great but it should be at least under 2000 faces (ideally 1000 or under.)

Anyway, great job!

charle88

Apr 14, 2009, 08:25 PM

Wow!:eek:You have to teach me how to do that!

Deliverator

Apr 15, 2009, 02:16 AM

Did you reduce the polycount on the leaderhead based unit? It looks great but it should be at least under 2000 faces (ideally 1000 or under.)

Yep, blender has a very handy Poly Reducer function which preserves the UV map so that you can use the same texture. Very cool indeed.

This was just a test really. I'm not sure the Arawak leader is the best for it. I'll do it for real using the Iroquois leader (which I think will look the business) and create a tutorial at the same time.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=210827&stc=1&d=1239779794

Flintlock1415

Apr 15, 2009, 06:55 PM

Cool, I've never noticed that before. I Just tested it out, and it seems to do some great work!

I can't wait to see more improvements, this mod looks really promising! :thumbsup:

Dale

Apr 15, 2009, 08:58 PM

Amazing work! This is brilliant!

Deliverator

Apr 16, 2009, 04:06 AM

Cool, I've never noticed that before. I Just tested it out, and it seems to do some great work!

I can't wait to see more improvements, this mod looks really promising! :thumbsup:

Thanks for the positive feedback guys.

The other key tool together with the PolyReducer is this script to Copy and Paste between blender instances:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49772
This script can be used to swap unit heads and other components between blender instances as well.

At a high level this is the process for Leaderheads -> Units. Save your blender files frequently and use Ctrl-Z to undo often!

(deep breath)

1. Reduce the complexity as much as possible by cutting away unnecessary elements - props, jewellery, ears, etc. This stuff can be done by texture. You are either going to merge the leaderhead with the target unit at the wrists or at the shoulders, so also lose the hands/whole arms.
2. Use the PolyReducer to get the poly count down, aiming for around 500 faces for head and torso. Check in the Texture view to see if your model still looks decent. PolyReducer effects the whole mesh by default, but you can use the vertex group weight feature to protect certain elements. Alternatively, you break the mesh up into to separate elements (using P for separate) - that way you can be much more aggressive on simpler elements like the torso, and less so on fiddly elements like the nose. Make sure everything is joined into a single object and still looks OK by checking the Texture view. Finally, remove the skeleton leaving only the mesh and delete every single vertex group.
3. Open a second instance of Blender. Import your target unit nif. Use the Copy/Paste script to Copy the reduced Leaderhead to buffer and then Paste out of buffer into the unit model.
4. Move, scale, tweak the leaderhead object until matched the proportion and position of the unit's head and torso. Delete the head and torso from the unit mesh.
5. Join the leaderhead and unit into one object. Weld together the shoulders and waist using (M)erge vertex and create (F)ace. Tidy up and tweak as necessary.
6. Assign vertices to appropriate vertex groups. I use Ctrl-Left drag to do lasso select and Ctril-Shift-Left drag lasso deselect. If you did the shoulder join option you'll probably only need to worry about Head, Spine, Spine1, Pelvis.
7. Export your nif. If it complains about unweighted vertices then you missed assigning a vertex to a bone vertex group.
8. In NifSkope delete the node of the units body and replace with your exported leaderhead/unit mutant.

It takes some patience, trial and error and tweaking to get this to work. I'm working on the Iroquois at the moment and haven't quite got the balance between poly count and quality yet. Either looks great but complex, or right complexity and dodgy looks. When I get this working smoothly - then I'll probably use a similar process for the Cherokee and Apache.

Deliverator

Apr 16, 2009, 06:04 PM

Iroquois is coming along. Down to around 1500 faces which isn't too bad when you consider the dragoons are 1200. Needs a bit more tidy up and texturing and then he's done.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211006&stc=1&d=1239922968

Flintlock1415

Apr 16, 2009, 08:55 PM

Wow, that's beautiful! I can't wait to see it fully textured! (esp. the arms) ;)

Deliverator

Apr 18, 2009, 11:40 AM

I'm done with the Iroquois for now. The arms are a bit chubby, but I've noticed that is also a problem with the existing Native Warrior:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211284&stc=1&d=1240073006

I'm now working on these guys. I've got an adjusted model, complete with sword and box thing (note the badly drawn anchor). Fair amount of texturing work to do!

So Troupes de la Marine and Iroquois for the next release.

Deliverator

Apr 19, 2009, 08:56 AM

Version 0.4 is now available - see the edited opening post.

Flintlock1415

Apr 20, 2009, 07:20 PM

Wow, looks great! :goodjob:

Deliverator

Apr 23, 2009, 05:22 PM

Coming soon - the third and (perhaps) final revision of the Conquistadores, the spanish caravals from here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=304014) and the Maya.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=211869&stc=1&d=1240525446

Aymerick

Apr 24, 2009, 05:46 AM

Looks great! I just noticed the hotkeys, it's much better this way, we can rotate anyway way we wait. Great feature!

charle88

Apr 25, 2009, 12:26 PM

Nice!:goodjob: I hope you do some Dutch units soon!

Deliverator

Apr 25, 2009, 03:23 PM

I think I've finally got the Conquistador look I was going for. I would like to do Dutch units soon. Anyone have any ideas/visual examples? Otherwise I'll do a bit of Googling myself.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212069&stc=1&d=1240691033

Flintlock1415

Apr 25, 2009, 07:29 PM

Wow, some more beautiful units! :D Just curious, are all these art skills self taught, or did you learn them from somewhere else?

Aymerick

Apr 26, 2009, 06:10 AM

I've been looking for a Dutch unit and i've found something, dunno if it's accurate:
http://www.ipmssantarosa.org/feature_expo/expo_2009/raffle/p031_dutch.jpg

It could also be Suisse mercenaries from the "régiment de Karrer". They were hire by the french but also worked for the Dutch I think:
http://cmhg-phmc.gc.ca/cmh/book_images/high/v1_x3_s02_ss00_05.jpg
http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/book_images/high/v1_c6_s09_ss01_01.jpg

Deliverator

Apr 26, 2009, 12:02 PM

@Flintlock
Self taught pretty much. Lots of practice with Blender and Paint.NET. Bear in mind I am making as much use of existing material as I can. For example this is the original M2TW conquistador texture used for the above model:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212134&stc=1&d=1240765267

I realised I'd get better results from altering the UV map to the texture, rather vice versa. You can see what I mean from this Blender screenshot:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212133&stc=1&d=1240765267

It's a sort of halfway house of the recent craze for porting models from other games. For freeware I think Blender is a great tool. Tricky to get pick up, but once you crack it it's enormously powerful. You can also texture paint in Blender which is really useful. The shading under the armour skirt and helmet was done in Blender using the airbrush.

@Aymerick
Had a look around and I think Rembrandt's The Night Watch might be the best source for a Dutch Golden Age military unit:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/The_Nightwatch_by_Rembrandt.jpg

Could be a challenge ;)

charle88

Apr 27, 2009, 05:02 PM

For those dutch soldiers you could use Bakuel's Swedish Karolin unit for the model.

Deliverator

May 01, 2009, 06:31 AM

I've looked at a few Bakuel's units and there is something strange going on with his NIF files. When I look at them they seem laid out in a jumbled way and they can't be imported into Blender or anything. Wierd. To be honest I'm not sure how people have got them working in game. I'm not dissing his work, but I've not been able to use any of his stuff due to these problems.

I've have some ideas on what to do for the Dutch, but first I need to get version 0.5 released which should be this weekend.

Deliverator

May 02, 2009, 09:21 AM

Version 0.5 is out now. I'm really interested to hear feedback from anyone who tries out the new features. Time for lunch...

i_diavolorosso

May 03, 2009, 01:31 AM

I played 0.5 once this morning (used dutch), but somehow the other european doesn't appear.So it's just me and the native in the map.

Bug??

Deliverator

May 03, 2009, 06:02 AM

That's strange. Were you playing the Americas scenario or a random map? Could you post a save game?

Also, make sure that you have the official Firaxis patch installed. There was a bug in the initial release where european powers refused to settle in custom scenarios. I've tested the scenario myself and the Europeans do settle although sometimes the seems to take a few turn to choose a location. Jamestown in Central America: :)

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212851&stc=1&d=1241349128

Deliverator

May 03, 2009, 04:53 PM

Here's what I've done on the Dutch unit so far. Still very much a work in progress.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=212949&stc=1&d=1241387488

i_diavolorosso

May 04, 2009, 05:17 AM

I use dales's non installer patch

At first i don't realize this problem.But when i come to about turn 70 i still got no contact with other european, and i prefer to take a look with world builder, and the map only showed me, maya, tupi, sioux and arawak.
I played generated map (play games then a new world)

How do you think i could post my savegames? btw:p?

PiMan

May 04, 2009, 07:27 AM

Deliverator

May 04, 2009, 08:24 AM

Thanks PiMan. Your savegames are probably in this path:

C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization\Saves\single

Change drive letter and username as needed.

i_diavolorosso

May 04, 2009, 08:00 PM

What mapsize are you using, because the smallest mapsize doesn't actually have opponent Europeans.

EDIT: and to post gamesaves, go to the advanced post creator/editor, scroll down to "Manage Attachments" and I think the instructions from there should be explanatory enough.
Hmm

I think that's the problem.I'm not sure what's the map size, because i randomise it, but the map is very small, and i guess it's the problem.:lol:

Btw good job with the dutch deliverator.:goodjob:

Dale

May 05, 2009, 05:18 AM

Everything is looking better and better mate. :)

Deliverator

May 05, 2009, 06:31 AM

Cheers Dale, when AOD2 1.10 is out - I'll probably merge this into some sort of modmod.

Deliverator

May 08, 2009, 03:24 PM

Spot the odd one out :p

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=213626&stc=1&d=1241814177

Zuul

May 09, 2009, 06:04 AM

Hehe cool *thumbs up*

PiMan

May 09, 2009, 08:26 AM

The odd one out is the only female there.

Deliverator

May 09, 2009, 11:43 AM

You may have noticed that since I made some of the Native units melee rather than ranged, that combat animation can be a bit strange. You can see in the title screen image at the top of this thread that the Conquistador at the bottom is firing into space while the Maya spearman safely prods him with his spear. I've managed to fix this using the info in this excellent tutorial. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=7833240#post7833240)

So now the Conquistador Musketman will use his sword against melee units and his musket against ranged units. Makes combat look less ridiculous. I'll try and roll similar changes out to other musket carrying units that don't currently have melee animations. I'd like to get the units with bayonets to actually use them in melee perhaps using a spearman animation.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=213716&stc=1&d=1241887383

Deliverator

May 09, 2009, 02:15 PM

Also for the next version I'm working on horse texture varieties:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=213729&stc=1&d=1241896475

Deliverator

May 11, 2009, 04:24 PM

Another Native Unit...

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=214007&stc=1&d=1242077013

charle88

May 11, 2009, 05:03 PM

Your units are really great!In my opinion, your mod should be featured in a modcast.

i_diavolorosso

May 12, 2009, 03:41 AM

Another Native Unit...

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=214007&stc=1&d=1242077013

What a magnificent hairstyle:lol:

Deliverator

May 12, 2009, 07:07 AM

Well, apparently in the Native American culture hair was normally grown long, but then shaved off for war. So maybe this guy is symbolizing War and Peace through a hairstyle... ;)

The hair was taken from the Cherokee leaderhead and slightly adjusted. The rest is an adjusted Scout model from normal Civ4. Reskinned the whole upper half using some bits and pieces from the M2TW textures, extensively recoloured, blended and manipulated to look coherent. I didn't like the normal scout animations so I'm using the Celtic Warrior ones - seems to work pretty well.

Next, I'm going to try using the Apache leaderhead's hair for the Apache unit model.

i_diavolorosso

May 13, 2009, 03:13 AM

Deliverator

May 17, 2009, 03:04 PM

Apache is pretty much done. This is probably my favourite Leaderhead port so far. The other guy is the Dutch browncoat equivalent. I still have quite a few things to get done for the next release including implementing seZereth's Blood Mod (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=11787). After that I'll get onto the AOD2 version.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=214559&stc=1&d=1242590633

Deliverator

May 17, 2009, 04:32 PM

The slaughter will not be sanitised. ;)

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=214576&stc=1&d=1242595943

Bungus

May 18, 2009, 11:13 PM

Can this be used/merged with Dale's mod?
Or could you release a version that's just the graphical changes?

Deliverator

May 19, 2009, 03:35 AM

Can this be used/merged with Dale's mod?
Yes, that's what I plan to do after I release the next version. I have some time next week to work on this. I'm going to try and make my stuff as modular as possible so it is easier to merge with AOD2 as Dale releases new versions.

Or could you release a version that's just the graphical changes?
Yes, I could, but I'd like to do the AOD2 expansion first. Anyone who can learn their way around the files can extract and use the bits they are interested in already.

DCMage

May 27, 2009, 10:44 AM

Any chance this is compatible with AoD II?

Deliverator

May 27, 2009, 11:49 AM

I'm working on a modmod for AOD2 - it may be ready tomorrow.

Deliverator

May 27, 2009, 05:13 PM

Any chance this is compatible with AoD II?

In fact, it's out now. How's that for service? ;)

See link in signature.

DCMage

May 30, 2009, 05:38 AM

In fact, it's out now. How's that for service?

Awsome! TYVM!

Deliverator

May 30, 2009, 05:53 AM

BLUMod 0.6 is out. I have switched to modular format so there may be some issues to iron out.

The features are the same as in the new Age Of Discovery II version. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=322400)

It could be a headache trying to maintain a vanilla version and an AODII version. I'm going to try and make sure both releases are bug free before adding more stuff.

The next piece of new content will be this EE2 Galleon once it is done.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=215393&stc=1&d=1243281386

Buddy3101

May 30, 2009, 06:41 AM

really nice Units :goodjob:

i_diavolorosso

May 30, 2009, 07:03 AM

Deliverator

May 30, 2009, 03:54 PM

It will look even better when I add all the sails and tidy up the rigging. It has already been noted that the Empire Earth 2 stuff actually looks better in this game than it did originally.

Deliverator

May 31, 2009, 06:21 AM

I realised I missed the PublicMaps folder out of the 0.6 release. Here it is.

Just unzip so that you have PublicMaps alongside Assets in the BLUMod 0_6 folder.

Then you can try the FaireWeatherTweak mapscript and the BLUModAmericas scenario :)

cetti

Jun 07, 2009, 07:24 AM

Hi Deliverator,
I thank you for the very good work you're doing !
I'd like to know if there'll be an "only graphic" version of Blumod.
I tried to take only the texture i like for blumod 0.6 and put in the vanilla version but maybe i do some mistakes cause when i try to implement new units like apache/sioux/inca/ecc... the game won't work :(

Now the game is working with just the new caravel/galleon/veterans units (the ones that already exists in vanilla) but i'd like to see the face of Magras on my apache warriors !!!! :)

The reason is simple : i'm too newbie for this kind of operations :)

Deliverator

Jun 07, 2009, 09:02 AM

Glad you like the mod.

With the Native units I have had to create unique units for each Native race. Before they all used the same unit - Brave, but now they each have a different unique unit. The reasons that the Caravel, etc work is that the paths for these are identical to vanilla whereas the Native art has completely new paths.

To separate them from BLUMod you pretty much need to understand XML modding. You will have to take the changes from three XML files: BLUMod_CIV4UnitInfos.xml, BLUMod_CIV4ArtDefines_Unit.xml and BLUMod_CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml, as well as the Art files. Create your own mod folder and replace put the contents of these three files into a copy of CIV4UnitInfos.xml, CIV4ArtDefines_Unit.xml and CIV4CivilizationInfos.xml placed into correct place in the file tree.

To be honest, most of the changes of this mod are graphical so it wouldn't really be worth me creating a graphic only version. Anyway I hope this information helps...

cetti

Jun 07, 2009, 12:54 PM

yes, i tried to do like you say but maybe i wrong something cause the game crashed :(

I think i'll wait for "only graphic" version :)

Thanks bye

charle88

Jun 07, 2009, 03:01 PM

I do think it seems strange that the 16th century Spanish Conquistadores are mixed in with 18th century French Compagnies franches de las Marines. Maybe you can make modmods for Blu mod that have units from a specific century. Also, I've been wondering what the units would look like if you add Norm files for them. I know Star Wars Empire at War uses DDS files with Norm files for their units. Anyways, great mod and keep up the great work!

Deliverator

Jun 08, 2009, 06:15 AM

I do think it seems strange that the 16th century Spanish Conquistadores are mixed in with 18th century French Compagnies franches de las Marines. Maybe you can make modmods for Blu mod that have units from a specific century.

I've thought this too. BTS has Unit Era Infos meaning that you can easily give different Civs different art for the same unit and have the same unit change appearance in the different game eras (think the way Great People change through the ages). Unfortunately, this feature is not in Civ4Col as everything is more complicated. In BTS, each Unit has art defined, in Civ4Col each combination of Unit and Profession has art defined - this makes the whole thing more complicated despite the fact that the game still has four eras. I've had to use a few workaround just to get what I have.

With some SDK worth it may be possible to have an early and late feel for each unit/profession, but I'm not going to get into SDK coding just to do that. In AOD2, Dale changes the flag on Declaration - changing the unit art is just an extension of the same idea. Not sure if it would work, but it would need a SDK coder to make it happen I think.

I'm also taking a break from BLUMod to work on Dune Wars (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=321914). Sandworms and ornithopters are just too tempting a challenge... :)

Norm files is something I've never played with - I might take a look...